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I watched in fascination as my mum ripped a sheet in half. She taught me to make a cut into the edge with a pair of scissors, then take each side, and yank it apart, continually pulling sideways on each half of the sheet.
I used this skill last year at yet another YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base near Chico, California. A pile of retired white sheets lay before me, waiting to be transformed into bed skirts. Sometimes I had to piece together parts of an old sheet, avoiding the places where a flaw in the fabric, or a hole appeared. Ripping the sheets instead of cutting them was much more efficient and accurate, leaving a wonderful straight edge.
I was confident that the pieces of my sheet would fit together well, because their edges followed the weave of the cloth.
The straight edge of the sheet reminded me of a measuring device mentioned in the Bible. Carpenters use a handy tool, a plumb line, a metal weight suspended on a string, to determine whether a wall is standing straight. The Lord warned the prophet Amos of the future of the northern kingdom, Israel, because of their persistence in sin.
“Then he showed me another vision. 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.'” (Amos 7:7-9 NLT)
How does a plumb line relate to our lives today?
The Word of God is our plumb line.
* God's Word is truth, greater than any other book we could read:
“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” (Hebrews 4:12 NLT)
“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (NLT)
We become free when we act on the instructions God gives us in His Word
* God's Word exposes our sin and tells us what to do with it:
“If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” (1 John 1:8,9 NLT)
When we acknowledge our sin and confess it, we line up again to the standard of God's Word
* God's Word guides us in the right way, giving us direction in the challenges of life.
“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:105 NLT)
We can navigate this life by following the light ahead.
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, that You have given us Your Word, which, like tearing a bed sheet to make a straight edge, or using a carpenter's tool to check for a straight wall, will ensure that we go forward through life without deviating from Your standard for us. Amen.
Alice Burnett
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
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