Rejoice and Glory: Understanding the Benefits

Remember me, O Lord, with the favor You have toward Your people.
Oh, visit me with Your salvation,

That I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones,
That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
That I may glory with Your inheritance.

The words of this passage are a prayer that should be something that every child of God recites; to be remembered with Your favor, for salvation, to see the benefit that has been given to Your chosen ones, to let me rejoice in gladness and to glory with Your inheritance. As Spurgeon says “Insignificant as I am, do not forget me.” Abba let me see these blessings and let me rejoice in You and remember me O Lord. (Bill)

_______________________

Charles Spurgeon

“Remember me, O LORD, with the favor which thou bearest unto thy people.” Insignificant as I am, do not forget me. Think of me with kindness, even as thou thinkest of thine own elect. I cannot ask more, nor would I seek less. Treat me as the least of thy saints are treated and I am content. It should be enough for us if we fare as the rest of the family. If even Balaam desired no more than to die the death of the righteous, we may be well content both to live as they live, and die as they die. This feeling would prevent our wishing to escape trial, persecution, and chastisement; these have fallen to the lot of saints, and why should we escape them

Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of case?
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas.

At the same time, we pray to have their sweets as well as their bitters. If the Lord smiled upon their souls we cannot rest unless he smiles upon us also. We would dwell where they dwell, rejoice as they rejoice, sorrow as they sorrow, and in all things be forever one with them in the favor of the Lord. The sentence before us is a sweet prayer, at once humble and aspiring, submissive and expansive; it might be used by a dying thief or a living apostle; let us use it now.

“O visit me with thy salvation.” Bring it home to me. Come to my house and to my heart, and give me the salvation which thou hast prepared, and art alone able to bestow. We sometimes hear of a man dying by the visitation of God, but here is one who knows that he can only live by the visitation of God. Jesus said of Zacchaeus, “This day is salvation come to this house,” and that was the case because he himself had come there. There is no salvation apart from the Lord, and he must visit us with it or we shall never obtain it. We are too sick to visit our Great Physician, and therefore he visits us. O that our great Bishop would hold a visitation of all the churches, and bestow his benediction upon all his flock. Sometimes the second prayer of this verse seems to be too great for us, for we feel that we are not worthy that the Lord should come under our roof. Visit me, Lord? Can it be? Dare I ask for it? And yet I must, for thou alone cans: bring me salvation: therefore, Lord, I entreat thee come unto me, and abide with me forever.

“That I may see the good of thy chosen.” His desire for the divine favor was excited by the hope that he might participate in all the good things which flow to the people of God through their election. The Father has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, according as he has chosen us in him, and in these precious gifts we desire to share through the saving visitation of the Lord. No other good do we wish to see, perceive, and apprehend, but that which is the peculiar treasure of the saints.

“That I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation.” The psalmist, having sought his portion in the good of the chosen, now also begs to be a partaker in their joy for of all the nations under heaven the Lord’s true people are the happiest.

“That I may glory with thine inheritance.” He would have a part and lot in their honor as well as their joy. He was willing to find glory where saints find it, namely, in being reproached for truth’s sake. To serve the Lord and endure shame for his sake is the glory of the saints below: Lord, let me rejoice to bear my part therein. To be with God above, forever blessed in Christ Jesus, is the glory of saints above: O Lord, be pleased to allot me a place there also.

_______________________

Enduring Word

Remember me, O LORD: With a preface and foundation of praise, the psalmist felt the door was open to ask God for help. He knew that for God to remember was to stir His compassionate action. For God to visit meant He would come with His salvation, bringing deliverance from the present trouble.

i. Horne called the prayer of Psalm 106:4-5 “The most spiritual and heavenly petition that the devoutest Christian can [bring] to the throne of grace.”

Oh, visit me with Your salvation: The plea is made as if the psalmist were too sick to go to the doctor for necessary care, and must have the doctor visit him.

That I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones: Three reasons for the request are given, each one concerned with the honor and fame of God.

· That I may see the benefit: “LORD, I want to see Your people blessed by Your mighty works toward them.”

· That I may rejoice: “LORD, I want to share in the joy with your blessed and redeemed people.”

· That I may glory: “LORD, I want to be part of Your victory and the victory of Your people.” (David Guzik)

_______________________

Barnes

Remember me, O Lord, with the favor that thou bearest unto thy people – literally, “Remember me with the favor of thy people.” This is the language of the author of the psalm: a pious ejaculation such as will occur to the mind in recounting what God has done for his church; what are the advantages of being his friends; what blessings of peace, happiness, and joy are connected with true religion. Even the wicked sometimes have this feeling when they look on the happy life and the peaceful death of the godly. So Balaam said, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!” Numbers 23:10.

That I may see the good of thy chosen – Thy chosen people; or, thine elect. That I may possess and enjoy the same favor and happiness which they do. It is implied here that there are special favors conferred on them; or, that happiness is found in the friendship of God which is not to be found elsewhere. It is a characteristic of true piety to desire to make that our own. A truly religious man desires the happiness which results from being among the “chosen” of God than all that the world can confer.

That I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation – The happiness found in the nation that serves thee. True religion – the favor of God – not only confers happiness on the “individual” who possesses it but on the nation or people where it prevails. It is just as much suited to produce happiness there, and is just as necessary for happiness there, as in the case of an individual.

That I may glory with thine inheritance – That I may share the honor of thy people. The word “inheritance” here is used to denote that which is one’s own, and is thus applied to the people of God considered as “his.” The meaning is, that the psalmist desired no other glory, honor, or distinction, than that which pertained to God’s people as such. He sought not the “glory” connected with the distinctions of the world; the display of wealth; the triumph of genius, of conquest, of arms – but the “glory” of being a friend of God, and of partaking of that which God confers on his people.

_______________________

John Gill

Remember me, O Lord, with the favor that thou bearest unto thy people,…. The Lord has a special and peculiar people, whom he has chosen, taken into covenant, given to his Son, redeemed by him, who are called by grace and brought to glory: to these, he bears a peculiar favor, loves with an everlasting love; which he has shown in the choice of them; in the gift of his Son to them; in their regeneration and eternal salvation. Now nothing can be more desirable than an interest in this favor, in which is life, spiritual and eternal; is the strength and security of believers, the source of their comfort, and the foundation of their happiness: to be remembered with this is to have a view of interest in it, a comfortable sensation of it, and an application of benefits by it.

O visit me with thy salvation; a prayer, either for the coming of Christ, as God’s salvation, promised, expected, and wished for; or, however, for an application of spiritual salvation to be wrought out by him; for a view of interest in it; to have the joys and comforts of it now, and the full possession of it hereafter. A gracious and desirable visit!

That I may see the good of thy chosen,…. The elect, according to the foreknowledge of God; who are chosen in Christ to holiness and happiness, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth unto salvation by him; the vessels of mercy afore prepared unto glory, both of Jews and Gentiles. The “good” of those is not any goodness of their own, for there is none in them naturally; they are by nature no better than others, none are good, nor do good, no, not one: but the goodness of God laid up for them, and bestowed on them; the blessings of goodness with which Christ is preparing for them; all the good things secured for them in a well-ordered covenant; which they partake of in time, and to eternity. To “see” these is not to have a superficial, notional, knowledge of them, as hypocrites may have; or a distant view of them, as Balaam, and the rich man in hell; but to have an experience of them, possess them, and enjoy them.

That I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation; all the nations of the world are the Lord’s; but there is a chosen generation, a holy nation, that is peculiarly his; a nation taken out of a nation, nay, taken out of all the nations that are upon earth: and these have a joy peculiar to them, which foreigners know nothing of, and strangers intermeddle not with; a spiritual joy in the Holy Ghost; a rejoicing in Christ Jesus, in his person, blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, and in hope of the glory of God; and such joy is desirable, a joy unspeakable, and full of glory.

That I may glory with thine inheritance; the same with his chosen people and nation: for the Lord’s people is his portion, and the lot of his inheritance; they are chosen for an inheritance, given to Christ as such, with which he is well pleased, esteeming them a goodly heritage; they are his purchased possession, his jewels and peculiar treasure. These “glory” not in themselves, in their strength and wisdom, their riches and righteousness; but in Christ and in his righteousness, and in what he is made unto them. And the psalmist desires to join with them, and glory in what they did, and in no other; and unite with them in giving glory to God and Christ, now and hereafter, for his salvation, and all good things from him.

_______________________

Matthew Henry

To bless ourselves in the favor of God, to place our happiness in it, and to seek it, accordingly, with all seriousness, as the psalmist here, v. 4, 5.

1. He has an eye to the lovingkindness of God, as the fountain of all happiness: “Remember me, O Lord! to give me that mercy and grace which I stand in need of, with the favor which thou bearest to thy people.“ As there are a people in the world who are in a peculiar manner God’s people, so there is a peculiar favor which God bears to that people, which all gracious souls desire an interest in; and we need desire no more to make us happy.

2. He has an eye to the salvation of God, the great salvation, that of the soul, as the foundation of happiness: O visit me with thy salvation. “Afford me (says Dr. Hammond) that pardon and that grace which I stand in need of, and can hope for from none but thee.” Let that salvation be my portion forever, and the pledges of it my present comfort.

3. He has an eye to the blessedness of the righteous, as that which includes all good (v. 5): “That I may see the good of thy chosen and be as happy as the saints are; and happier I do not desire to be.” God’s people are here called his chosen, his nation, his inheritance; for he has set them apart for himself, incorporated them under his own government, is served by them and glorified in them. The chosen people of God have a good which is peculiar to them, which is the matter both of their gladness and of their glorying, which is their pleasure, and their praise. God’s people have reason to be a cheerful people, and to boast in their God all the day long; and those who have that gladness, that glory, need not envy any of the children of men their pleasure or pride. The gladness of God’s nation, and the glory of his inheritance, are enough to satisfy any man; for they have everlasting joy and glory at the end of them.

_______________________

John Wesley

Verse 4

[4] Remember me, O LORD, with the favor that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation;

Me — He speaks here in the name and on the behalf of the whole nation. With-With those favors which thou dost usually and peculiarly give to thy people.

Verse 5

[5] That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.

See — Enjoy.

Chosen — Of thy chosen people; such as are Israelites indeed.

Gladness — Such joy as thou hast formerly afforded unto thy beloved nation.

Glory — That we may have occasion to glory in God’s goodness towards us.

Inheritance — In the congregation of thy people.

_______________________

KJV W/ STRONGS BIBLE – PSALMS 106

106:4 Remember 2142 8798 me, O LORD 3068, with the favour 7522 [that thou bearest unto] thy people 5971: O visit 6485 8798 me with thy salvation 3444;

106:5 That I may see 7200 8800 the good 2896 of thy chosen 972, that I may rejoice 8055 8800 in the gladness 8057 of thy nation 1471, that I may glory 1984 8692 with thine inheritance 5159.

_______________________

Geneva Bible 1560

Psalm 106:4-5

4 Remember me, ô Lord, with the c favor of thy people: visit me with thy salvation,

5 That I may se the felicitie of thy chosen, and rejoyce in the joy of thy people, and glorie with thine inheritance.

c Let the goodwill that you bear to your people, extend unto me, that thereby I may be received into the number of yours.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”

Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV

Posted on 1/31/2025 by Bill Stephens

Follow me on twitter – @billstephens_59

ALSO FROM MY TIME WITH THE LORD THIS MORNING:

2 Chronicles 20:15 New King James Version

15 And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

2 Chronicles 20:17 New King James Version

17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”