There are some pretty bad ideas about God out there. An obvious one is "God" as the indulgent Santa Claus who will give us whatever we want as long as our faith is strong enough. But as we humans are wont to do, it is possible to swing to an opposite but equally wrong extreme - "God" who only deals with his children by withholding. So on the one hand you have indulgence and on the other hand you have deprivation. Neither is correct, and as my pastor pointed out, both of these "gods" are passable. Their moods and dispositions toward us are changeable depending on what we do. Do right = we get what we want. Do wrong or not do enough = retribution, displeasure, and suffering. Two possible and opposite outcomes, but essentially the same root. "Do this and live" AKA the covenant of works. My natural bent is toward the deprivation side which is probably a combination of having weak theology most of my life and personal temperament. But circumstances ...