No people ever rise higher than their idea of God

"No people ever rise higher than their idea of God, and conversely, a loss of the sense of God’s high and awesome character always involves a loss of a people’s moral values and even what we commonly call humanity. We are startled by the disregard for human life that has overtaken large segments of the western world, but what do we expect when countries like ours openly turn their back upon God? We deplore the breakdown of moral standards, but what do we expect when we have focused our worship services on ourselves and our own often trivial needs rather than on God? Our view of God affects what we are and do ..."

James Montgomery Boice, Psalms, Volume 3: Psalms 107–150 (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1998), 912.