Before we think this judgment is unfair or unwarranted, Israel is reminded that God loses patience for good reasons (Amos 8:4–6). The people were stealing from one another, especially from the poor. In mentioning these things Amos is reminding Israel that God’s judgment comes in response to their actions. God is angry at their religious hypocrisy—how they love to talk to him and listen to sermons only to exploit cheap labour and pay an unfair wage. God is angry at their greed—how they put making money ahead of integrity, possessions ahead of relationship, and how the powerful bully the vulnerable with no one to stop them.
Wouldn’t you agree that these are rightful reasons for God to be angry? Surely we want to serve a God who cares about people and hates injustice? In our better moments, these are also things that we hate, especially when they happen to us or those whom we love. So thank God that he does not forget about evil but will come in judgment. Thank God that he has sworn by the pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.”
Evil angers God for he is holy, just, and good. If God could simply forget evil, that would mean he does not care about what happens in this world. Prison camps in North Korea, the rape and murder in Mozambique, human trafficking in South Africa—if God does not care, can there be any hope for justice? More than that, wouldn’t it make God complicit in these evils if he never acted to punish it? If there was something he could do about it but he chose not to, surely that would make God just as guilty as the perpetrator himself? Thankfully, that is not what God is like. He does not forget evil; he will not acquit the guilty. The Lord is patient with our sin, but he is not indifferent. He will not allow evil to continue forever. There is a day on which judgment will come, there is a limit to his patience.
The limit to God’s patience is good news. It provides us with a reason to trust God and gives us certain hope that justice will prevail. But it also puts us in a dangerous position. A dangerous position because the evil that we hate to see in others is an evil that resides within ourselves. By nature we all have an impulse to be selfish and greedy, to hate God and our neighbour. When we come into positions of power we think that we have earned the right to do what we want and we expect others to serve us. Regarding the Lord’s Day, gathering with God’s people for worship is quickly seen as optional if it involves risk, if it gets in the way of family time, or if it stops me from making money. In the sight of God we are all guilty and deserving of judgment, and he is not indifferent to our sins. God does not forget our pride that makes us think we are at the centre of the world, free to ignore his voice, and decide for ourselves what is right and wrong. He does not close his eyes to the many harsh words that we have spoken in anger—he does not ignore crooked business practices and outright theft. God is not indifferent to these things.
The pride of Jacob will not be forgotten (Amos 8:7). God’s patience will eventually run out. Israel will not be passed by (Amos 8:2).
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end,