Burning off the gray

How amazing it must have been to be called by God to prophesy to his people. Take Amos for example. One of the first of the writing prophets, and he was good, very good at it. Amos proclaimed that "worship without justice is unacceptable to God."

Tough love, huh?

In the seventh chapter of his writings, Amos calls out repeatedly to God for help. Twice he writes, "O Lord God, forgive, I beg you! How can Jacob stand? He is so small." Twice the Lord God answers this way, "It shall not be."

Then God gives Amos a prophesy that will stand, one of the more famous of visions in scripture: "I saw the Lord standing beside a wall that had been built using a plumb line. He was using a plumb line to see if it was still straight. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”

I answered, “A plumb line.”

And the Lord replied, “I will test my people with this plumb line. I will no longer ignore all their sins. The pagan shrines of your ancestors will be ruined, and the temples of Israel will be destroyed; I will bring the dynasty of King Jeroboam to a sudden end.”

Get that? Amos has a press release that basically says the places of worship in Israel are going to be destroyed.

Now, I'm not the sharpest tool in the tool chest, but it seems to me that a prophet saying the places of praise, the windows of worship, the avenues of allegiance, the setting of sacrifices being closed down, being destroyed isn't quite the message most prophetic folk would give. In other words, I'm in charge of this church and it's going to be destroyed. It's not the greatest bit of encouragement.

The sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste...

Lord prepare me, to be a sanctuary....

Then and now it seems to me the Lord is fully capable of doing whatever needs to be done, whenever it needs to be done, however it needs to be done. God created -- man, woman, child -- the sanctuaries and He watches over them, but his point to Amos was the plumb line will measure the "correctness" of his people. How right were they? Just how good were they? He calls on Amos to deliver the message.

I firmly believe (as the subject of my new book God on the Line) that God calls us, me, you, every bit as much as He called Amos and the like. He calls us, he equipts us, he sends us. That's the method. We are all ministers (prophets) as it were, with a singular mission ... to bring Christ to the world.

Amos gets the message that there are consequences when one mixes worship with injustice and he delivers the message, humbling himself and speaking. Throughout the written book of Amos, God's destruction of Israel is at the forefront. Then, at the end, God gives hope to his people.

"But also on that Judgment Day I will restore David's house that has fallen to pieces. I'll repair the holes in the roof, replace the broken windows, fix it up like new. David's people will be strong again and seize what's left of enemy Edom, plus everyone else under my sovereign judgment." God's Decree. He will do this. "Yes indeed, it won't be long now." God's Decree. Things are going to happen so fast your head will swim, one thing fast on the heels of the other. You won't be able to keep up. Everything will be happening at once—and everywhere you look, blessings! Blessings like wine pouring off the mountains and hills. I'll make everything right again for my people Israel:

"They'll rebuild their ruined cities.
They'll plant vineyards and drink good wine.
They'll work their gardens and eat fresh vegetables.
And I'll plant them, plant them on their own land.
They'll never again be uprooted from the land I've given them.
God, your God, says so."

God's people made terrible mistakes, sinned awfully, and they were punished for those consequences.

But God will restore. God will revive. God will reveal. God will raise them up.

Makes a cloudy, foggy day bring with sunshine, doesn't it?