A Plumbline in His Hand

To my son,

                This week in our Come, Follow Me studies we have been reading the words of the prophet Amos. One of his messages was that the Lord calls prophets to reveal His word, and perhaps the most famous passage from Amos is this one: “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, until he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). The Lord has promised to send His word through prophets, and how grateful we are that today we have a prophet on the earth that can reveal His will to us. I know that President Nelson was indeed called of God and that we will be blessed by following His counsel. Amos recorded an interesting vision that he saw which also teaches us about the purpose of prophets: “Behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more” (Amos 7:7-8). I plumbline, also called a plumb bob, is a device used to make sure that something is straight vertically. It has a string with a weight at the bottom that is used to ensure that things are “plumb” or vertical. The student manual gives this explanation, “A plumbline is used to obtain exactness and accuracy in construction work. Here it seems to symbolize that God’s strict justice will prevail in judging Israel for her evil ways.” I think we can also see the plumbline as a representation of the prophet himself who delivers the Lord’s judgments and requirements to us. In the vision the Lord held the plumbline which went down to help the people see what the Lord required of them, just as the Lord sends us His prophets to teach us His way and help us to keep His commandments. As we follow the prophet we will be kept within the “straight and narrow” way that leads us back to our Father in Heaven.      

                If prophets are so important in the Lord’s plan, then we should be asking ourselves regularly this question: “How can I follow the prophet today?” To answer that, we need to know what the prophet has taught and then seek to apply his words to our lives. In the most recent general conference, here is one invitation that President Nelson gave us: “I extend to members of the entire Church the same charge I gave to our young adults last May. I urged them then—and I plead with you now—to take charge of your own testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel. Work for it. Nurture it so that it will grow. Feed it truth. Don’t pollute it with false philosophies of unbelieving men and women. As you make the continual strengthening of your testimony of Jesus Christ your highest priority, watch for miracles to happen in your life.” Today I want to encourage you to seek to follow this counsel: work to develop and strengthen your testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel. A testimony usually comes little by little as we study the scriptures, pray sincerely, attend church, and seek to listen to the Holy Ghost. You will start to feel for yourself that God lives and loves you personally. You were recently given the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and through that you can learn for yourself as well the truthfulness of the scriptures and of the reality of the Savior Jesus Christ. I urge you to read each day in the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ, and as you do so sincerely you will come to feel for yourself that He really is the Son of God and Savior of the world. He died for your sins and for mine, and our best path to happiness is to follow His teachings. 

Love,

Dad