By Kay Moll

The words of Amos 8:7 are haunting: “The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: ‘I will never forget anything they have done.’” The things that God will not forget have been made abundantly clear: widespread oppression of the poor and an unwillingness to address injustices.

If God will not forget the actions of Israel, neither will he forget the actions—or lack thereof—of the church today. 

A Need for Voices in the Past

God called Amos to be a voice against the darkness. He has consistently called others to do the same.

One such voice was Amy Carmichael, who served as a missionary in India for 55 years. In 1901 a little girl, whom she named Pear Eyes, was brought to Amy. The child had been sold to a temple by her mother who hoped to win the favor of the gods. Such girls were then forced into a life of prostitution. 

After Amy’s eyes were opened to the horrors of what was going on in the temples, she founded the Dohnavur Fellowship and began to take in other children. She sheltered the children and refused to give in to the threats of those who demanded that they be returned. Amy’s horror about this terrible social injustice fueled her ministry. Eventually more than 1,000 children were rescued who otherwise would have faced lives of abject misery. 

A Need for Voices in the Present

Injustices similar to those seen by Amos and Amy Carmichael are rampant throughout today’s world. It is easy to look at the situation and feel helpless.

But God used Amos, a shepherd from Tekoa, to proclaim his message in the strongest terms possible. God used Amy Carmichael, a single woman plagued with health problems that confined her to bed for the last 20 years of her ministry, to rescue 1,000 children. When asked what it was like to be a missionary, Amy replied that it was an opportunity to die.

Is that not what it will take to address injustice today? Men and women who are not only willing to have their eyes opened but are willing to do whatever it takes to make a difference. Men and women willing to die. Men and women who remember that God does not forget.

Kay Moll is a writer and speaker living in Mason, Ohio.