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The psalms teach us how the believer should react, live, and feel like as servants of God in a fallen, sinful world. This psalm is a psalm for worship. Notice the description before verse 1, “A song for the Sabbath.” Therefore, this psalm teaches us how we ought to approach the gathered, public worship.
Believers Delight In Worship (1-4)
The psalmist says that it is good to give thanks and sing praises. It is good to speak about God’s steadfast love and faithfulness in song. In seeing what God has done we sing for joy! The Lord’s day worship is to be a delight for us. The first day of the week is a day to look forward to and anticipate. It must not be viewed as another day that we have to endure. How do we approach Sunday? How do we approach worship? Do we see our worship as a duty or a delight? Is our Sunday worship merely a habit or something that has to be done? This is supposed to be a time of delight and joy. The singing of songs should never be viewed as worthless or pointless.
Praising God is good for us. Praising God should never seem boring. We will certainly have a problem in eternity if we think praising God is boring because that is all we read the spiritual beings doing. If we find singing boring, worship boring, and praising God boring, it is not because you know God and found him to be a bore. It is because we do not know God very well. We are too worldly if we cannot find the joy in coming together to worship. We come because we want God. We do everything to enjoy God. If you are not enjoying yourself, you are not here to enjoy God. Further, we must teach our children that worship is enjoyable and is not a time for video games and toys. Our delight is in God.
Fools Do Not Delight In God (5-9)
Senseless people and fools do not appreciate this. If we cannot see that delighting in God is not what life is all about, then we are facing eternal punishment. If our joy is in the things of this world and do not find our joy in God, but in our worldly activities, then we are senseless enemies of God who do not understand. Your life joy and life value is found in your job, in your possessions, in your family, or in your status. The fool delights in all the wrong things.
We forget that it all goes back in the box. I suppose most of us have played the board game, Monopoly. The purpose is to accumulate money and property to put others out of the game. When we win the game, we do not want to walk away. We bask in the glory of our accomplishment. Look at how well we played the game. Look at all we acquired. Look at all the people we put out. But then what happens? It all goes back in the box. There is nothing lasting that comes from it. In the same way, at the end of this life, it all goes back in the box. Everything you have, every dollar, every possession, every bit of status, all of it simply goes back in the box. And if we do not have God, then we have nothing to show for our lives at the end of the game.
The Righteous Flourish (10-15)
Delighting in God is the secret for flourishing in life. This flourishing is the same language that is used in Psalm 1. We are like a tree that is planted and grows like the cedars in Lebanon. We are immoveable and strong in the face of life’s difficulties. Further, we are planted in the house of the Lord. We are in the right place, the place where our value and love comes from. Even as we approach old age and are not able to do what we did before, we are still valuable and fruitful for the Lord. As we get older we lose all the things that seemed to be so important and begin to realize that these worldly things do not matter. The good life is not about finding joy in the things of this world. The good life comes from finding joy in God. He is the rock who keeps us and loves us throughout all of life’s changes. Come and see that the Lord is good. Find your joy in God by loving him and obeying his will.