At this point the psalm comes full circle, ending on the idea of the righteous praising God. It has been introduced as a song "for the Sabbath day.” So let me combine these ideas, asking, if you cannot praise God on the Lord's Day, if you find it tedious and troublesome, how are you going to keep on doing it into old age?
Having said a great deal about the value, reasons for and methods of worshiping God, the psalm next introduces a contrast with the case of those who, unlike the psalmist, do not know or praise God (vv. 5-9). I call this the silence of the senseless, because that is what the writer himself calls them in verse 6. There are two things wrong with them.
Dr. John Piper is the senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and he has written a book on the enjoyment of God which he calls Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist. Picking up on the first answer of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which I have just cited in yesterday’s study, Piper urges Christians to glorify God by enjoying him, for that is what God wants and it is both our greatest duty and pleasure.
So let me ask, does the thought of praising God seem boring to you? At least if you are asked to do it more than a brief sixty minutes on Sunday morning? If it does, you should recall that it is for this we were created. The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?" It answers: "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever."
In most Reformed circles and in some others there is an ongoing debate about the right way to observe Sunday. Some see it as an extension of the Jewish Sabbath and call for an end to all work, except what are called works of necessity, like providing emergency medicine and fighting fires. This is called the Puritan view. Others regard Sunday as a day for Christian worship but do not forbid other positive activities. This view is sometimes called the continental understanding of the Sabbath.
