There’s a rumor going around. It goes something like this: God will help you get rich, if you are generous. You have to be incredibly generous, and it will pay off. Verses like those in Proverbs 11:24-28 say so.

Maybe you’ve heard this rumor. The trouble is it doesn’t square with the gospel.

Even in seeking to assure obedience, God’s passion is displayed towards those who are still to be brought into the community of faith. The effect of obedience is to assure the health of the worshipping community. There is a direct benefit in setting aside a day for worship, and rest has a direct benefit for the obedient. Our bodies function best with regular rest. Our emotional and spiritual health functions best with regular worship.

Sometimes it is not easy to wait for God. When our concerns seem to demand immediate response, waiting on God can be difficult. It is hard to wait in trust when the temptation to bolt is calling. Sometimes simple impatience and boredom crowd out the resolve to wait on God.

It is easy to understand how people became impatient waiting for Moses to return from the mountain.

Anger is an unpleasant thing to watch. Seeing displeasure is unnerving. It creates discomfort and makes people feel uneasy. Yet anger is a common reaction. It can follow disappointment. It often accompanies betrayal and is an associate of frustration.

But anger can also be a response of concern. It can be an expression of defence or a result of agitated love.

Not many people face severe outcomes like this when given the choice whether or not to follow God. Rarely is there immediate judgment for choosing not to follow God. Yet we still disobey, and willful disobedience will have its consequences.

Because of the violent nature of God’s response in this passage to the worship of idols, it is easy to overlook the third form of punishment declared by God.

Many people think that faith would be much easier if the presence of God were obvious. Indeed when the pillar of cloud descended over the Tent of Meeting everyone knew that God was present. The response was as expected. The people stood and worshipped.

Such a display is not common now. The presence of God can seem more difficult to detect.

This psalm is different. It’s unique among the 150 psalms in the Bible because it presents us with various vignettes of redemption—brief stories or scenes where the Lord rains down his mercy and rescues the wayward and downtrodden.

In verse two the psalmist declares, “Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story.”