God's Plumb Line

You've probably heard of a level. It's a tool you use to make sure things are perfectly straight across. Things like a shelf, which you would need to hold things and not have things roll off of it. And these days, most good levels come with multiple bubbles that will help you get things just right horizontally, vertically, and even on an angle. Just flip that level around whichever way you need it, and there you go. 

But there's another tool that craftsmen have used much longer than our modern levels, and that's the plumb line. Some folks call it a plumb bob. Not really sure how bob ended up with a plumb named after him, but here we are. 

A plumb (for short) is basically a line with a weight on one end and you can hold the loose end at the top of your space, and the weight pulls it down into a straight line with gravity. Then, you can make sure whatever you're working on is perfectly up and down. 

That it's straight. 

The prophet Amos says this is how God makes measure of the world. He holds a plumb line from up on high (7:7-9). And when He does, the weight of His glory holds it straight down to the earth so that He can see just how straight His creation is. 

Spoiler alert: we're not that straight. 

But because of His glory, because of His standard, because of the way He patiently holds the line until it comes to settle just the way that it needs to, we have a guide that can help us be straighter. 

I live in an old house. A really old house. As I write, it is approaching the century-old mark. So needless to say, plumb lines don't do me a whole lot of good. Or so you would think. I'm not sure that there's a single stud or beam left in this house that would pass a plumb test. 

Kind of like my life. I'm not sure if there's anything straight enough sometimes to stand up next to God's plumb line. 

And yet, one of the tricks when making repairs in an old house is figuring out how to get something straight to fit in a crooked hole. How to put a new door in plumb in a jamb that's leaning slightly left. How to use saws and shims to reshape what's a little wonky. Because as tempting as it may be to just throw the door in at the same angle the rest of the house has settled, it doesn't work. The new door was built plumb, and it will take all kinds of time to make it crooked. You just can't get those angles right. 

So you have to bring the off-angles into line with the new plumb. You have to do your best (and sometimes, it takes a bit...or a bit more) to get that old space plumb enough to take a new door. Otherwise, you're going to end up with big gaps where the door is square but the hole is not and now, you've got a draft and a great place for insects to come find refuge in your climate-controlled environment. 

The same is true about God's plumb line. It can be frustrating at times. Discouraging, even, to see how far off our lives have gotten. But the purpose of the plumb line is to help us build up our crooked spaces to take something new that's already plumb. To hold something that's straight. To put one new thing in one old place and know that, no matter how the rest of our lives have settled, this is the way it ought to be.

To the glory of God. 

Thanks, bob.