Amos 8 (3)

Pray Psalm 106.4, 5, 48.
Remember me, O LORD, with the favor You have toward Your people.
Oh, visit me with Your salvation,
That I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones,
That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
That I may glory with Your inheritance…
Blessed be the LORD God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting!
And let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the LORD!

Sing Psalm 106.4, 5, 48.
(Trust in Jesus: ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus)
LORD, when You Your people favor, help me, O, remember me,
that I may Your blessings savor and in joy and glory be!
Refrain
Blessèd be our God and Savior, evermore His praise proclaim!
Let all those who know Your favor praise Your holy, glorious Name!

Read Amos 8.1-8; meditate on verses 7, 8.

Preparation
1. What does God always remember?

2. What are the effects of this?

Meditation
Here is the Lord’s promise to all who repent:
“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake;
And I will not remember your sins.” (Is. 43.25)

But until repentance is realized, He continues to remember all our works, and all our works, being sinful, will tell against us in the day when God comes to judge the world (Matt. 16.27).

The sins of Israel were very great, indeed—idolatry, injustice, oppression, fornication, violence, lying, and more. From none of these did the people repent. Instead, they clung to the fact that they were the offspring of Jacob and would of course always have the favor of God, no matter what they did. Their pride in being Jacob’s offspring freed them, in their minds, to live as they pleased. No need to follow God’s Law or to be bound by any of His Word. No need to seek Him in prayer, since He was always watching over them anyway. No need to live as a people set apart for holiness, since they had their Jacob-ticket to escape God’s wrath.

Wrong. All such wrong belief is deadly, because the Lord remembers all the sinful works we do, even those we consider to be small or harmless or private. God sees. God remembers. And God is preparing a place of eternal judgment—worse than constant earthquakes and monster floods (v. 8)—for all who prefer their works to God’s, and who will not repent of their sins.

Don’t let that consequence be yours. As the Lord remembers your works, let Him see in them a reflection of Jesus—sinless, undefiled, and abounding in goodness. And repentant as needed.

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“Surely I will never forget any of their works” (Amos 8.7).

After the rain, and the floods, and the death, and the mayhem “God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark” (Gen. 8.1). God didn’t forget Noah’s work and obedience.

When God’s children were groaning and bemoaning their horrible situation of bondage in Egypt, “God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them” (Ex. 2.23-25).

After all the work Nehemiah had put into rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem and trying to revive the lives of God’s people within, he prayed, “Remember me, O my God, for good!” (Neh. 13.30).

When Hannah was crushed in spirit before God in prayer, she cried out, “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head” (1 Sam. 1.10, 11).

Through the psalmist, we can pray with him, “Remember the word to Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope” (Ps. 119.49).

In the suffering of His people, He remembers His covenant (Ps. 106.45).

There is much to be thankful for when God remembers our works.
They are works that have been created for us before we were ever born. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2.10).

Knowing that God remembers us, and will not forget our works, spurs us on to greater obedience and love.
We are filled with respectful fear of what God can do for good and for evil. We are His. Come what may. Let us pray with Habakkuk: “O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy” (Hab. 3.2).

As Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, said: “And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation” (Lk. 1.50).

He will remember us.
How He remembers us depends on what He cannot forget about us.

Reflection
1. What works do you expect Jesus to do in and through you today?

2. How would you counsel a new believer to keep from falling into sinful ways?

3. When we repent, God does not remember our sins. What should we learn from this about how to relate to one another?

He says, I shall never forget all your works, that is, none of your works shall be passed by unpunished. For though conscience sometimes disturbs hypocrites yet they think that many things may be concealed; and if the hundredth part, or at farthest the tenth, must be accounted for, they think this to be quite enough: "Why! God may perhaps observe this or that, but many faults will escape him." John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Amos 8.7

Pray Psalm 106.44-48.
Thank the Lord that He remembers none of your sins because of Jesus. Seek His favor for the work that lies ahead of you today..

Sing Psalm 106.44-48.
(Trust in Jesus: ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus)
Look upon us, LORD, with favor, see us in our sore distress!
Hear our cries, with love surround us; turn again to heal and bless!
Refrain
Blessèd be our God and Savior, evermore His praise proclaim!
Let all those who know Your favor praise Your holy, glorious Name!

Save us, LORD, from every nation; gather us from all our ways.
And we to Your Name will offer glorious thanks and endless praise!
Refrain

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.