Text: Psalm 81. It is too long for this format but I encourage you to read it. For the purposes here, I will highlight its recurring theme: The obedience of God’s people leads to God’s blessing; disobedience leads to God’s judgment. This principle applies to individuals, countries, and cultures. 

Over and over again in the psalm, God speaks through the poem of Asaph, stressing this fundamental law of the harvest: “Hear, O my people, while I admonish you/O Israel, if you would but listen to me!” (v. 8). 

And v. 10 says, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt,/Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” And vv. 11-12 drive home the principle again: “But my people did not listen to my voice;/Israel would not submit to me./So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,/to follow their own counsels.” 

Connection to today:  For anyone with eyes to see and courage to say what’s obvious, this is exactly what is unfolding in the West. By and large, the culture hates God, wants to silence godly prophetic voices, wants the truth to remain inside the doors of buildings with steeples, and to remain in quiet Bible studies, but to have no effect upon actual daily life. Just be irrelevant, and you’ll be fine: that’s the message. 

But for things that God hates, the things that God claims merit His wrath, we’re forced to celebrate and nod in assent, or risk being made pariahs, lose our livelihoods, or worse. In other words, it actually costs something to be a believer. You don’s say? What a concept, that following God might actually cost something. 

Over and over in Psalm 81, God promises to bless His people, but they actually need to be faithful to His revealed will, and not hide the light of truth under a basket. Otherwise, God gives people over to follow their own stubborn hearts (v. 12, Romans 1) as just judgment for sin. 

Encouragement: The heart of God for people is overt in Psalm 81. Come to Him in repentance, humility, trust, obedience, and receive divine benediction. Reject the God who made you and all things, and see where godlessness leads. You needn’t look far. But there is yet time to return and be restored.