The prophet Amos lived in southern Judah, but his ministry was primarily directed toward the idolatrous kingdom of Israel. The wicked King Jeroboam II sat on the throne in those declining years of the northern kingdom, and less than fifty years after his reign Israel would be carried away by the Assyrians.

In Amos 7, the prophet began to receive visions from the Lord God—that is, from “Adonai Jehovah,” the sovereign, covenant-keeping God. The first vision depicted an impending swarm of locusts. When Amos perceived that they would consume the whole land, he cried to the Lord in the prayer quoted above. It was an intercessory prayer born out of love for God’s people. How essential it is for a prophetic voice to be accompanied by a compassionate heart! In response, God told Amos that the vision of locusts would not come to pass.

But another vision followed immediately, now portraying a fire that consumed deep waters and devoured the land—perhaps the poetic description of a severe drought. Amos cried out again, this time asking that the Lord in mercy would cease from such a judgment; and again the Lord granted Amos’s prayer. Then came a third vision: the Lord Himself stood on a wall, holding a plumb line, a weighted cord used by builders to determine whether a wall is straight: “I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel,” said the Lord; “I will not pass by them anymore” (Amos 7:8).

At this, Amos did not pray any further. Surely the Lord is a God of forgiveness and mercy, but He is also a God of justice. Everything crooked would have to come down. Amos, who loved the people of God, would also desire to see God’s righteousness vindicated among them. We can join Amos in this, knowing that God is the one who holds the plumb line, and He is well able to assess our condition.