4 “They shall speak of the magnificence of the glory of Your Holiness, and shall record Your wondrous deeds”. “And the excellence of Your fearful works shall they speak of: and Your greatness, they shall relate it”. “The remembrance of the abundance of Your sweetness they shall pour forth”: none but Yours. See whether this man, meditating on Your works, has turned aside from the Worker to the work: see whether he has sunk from Him who made, to the things which He made.
Of the things which He has made, he has made a step up to Him, not a descent from Him to them. For if you love these more than Him, you will not have Him. And what profit is it to you to overflow with the works, if the Worker leave you? Truly you should love them; but love Him more, and love them for His sake. For He does not hold out promises, without holding out threats also: if He held out no promises, there would be no encouragement; if He held out no threats, there would be no correction.
They that praise You therefore shall “speak” also “of the excellence of Your terrible deeds;” the excellence of that work of Your hands which punishes and administers discipline, they shall speak of, they shall not be silent: for they shall not proclaim Your everlasting kingdom, and be silent about Your everlasting fire. For the praise of God, setting you in the way, ought to show you both what you should love, and what you should fear; what you should seek, and what you should shun; what you should choose, and what you should avoid.
The time of choice is now, the time of receiving will be hereafter. Let then the excellence of Your terrible things be told. Unlimited as it is, though “of Your greatness there is no end,” they shall not be silent about it. How shall they recount it, if there is no end of it? They shall recount it when they praise it; and because there is no end of it, so of His praise also there shall be no end.
Source: The Enarrations, or Expositions, on the Psalms (New Advent)