Psalms 106:1 - Meaning and Application

We are taught here to bless God (Psalm 106:1, 2). “Praise the Lord” means, first, to thank him for his goodness, for the way he shows it to us, and for the many times he has shown it. He is good, and his mercy lasts forever. So we should own our debt to him and give him our best love and service.

It also means to give him honor for his greatness and his mighty acts, those displays of his all-powerful strength, by which he has done great things. Who can speak of them fully? Who is fit to do it? Who is able? There are so many they cannot be counted, and so deep they cannot be fully described. Even when we have said all we can about the mighty acts of the Lord, we have still not told the whole story. There is always more to say, because this subject can never be exhausted. We must show his praise, and we may show some of it, but who can show all? Not even the angels can do that. This should not excuse us from praising him as well as we can. Instead, it should stir us to do all we can.

We are also taught to bless the people of God, to call them happy, because they are happy indeed (Psalm 106:3). Those who keep right judgment are blessed, because they are fit to praise God. God’s people have sound principles. They keep judgment, meaning they hold to the rules of wisdom and true religion, and their conduct matches those rules. They do what is right, both toward God and toward other people, and they stay steady and constant in it. They do it at all times, in every part of life, in every case, and they keep on doing it to the end.

We are also taught to bless ourselves in God’s favor, to place our happiness in it, and to seek it earnestly, as the psalmist does here (Psalm 106:4, 5). He looks to God’s lovingkindness as the source of all happiness. “Remember me, Lord,” he says, asking for the mercy and grace he needs, along with the favor God shows to his people. Since there is a people in the world who belong to God in a special way, there is also a special favor he shows them, and every gracious soul should want a share in it. We need ask for nothing more to make us truly happy.

He also looks to God’s salvation, the great salvation of the soul, as the foundation of happiness. “Visit me with your salvation,” he says. That is, give me the pardon and grace I need, the help I can hope for from no one but you. Let that salvation be mine forever, and let the present signs of it be my comfort now.

He also looks to the blessedness of the righteous, because that includes every good thing (Psalm 106:5). He wants to see the good of God’s chosen, and to be as happy as the saints are, and no happier than that. God’s people are here called his chosen, his nation, and his inheritance, because he has set them apart for himself, joined them together under his own rule, and is served and honored in them. The chosen people of God have a good that belongs especially to them, and it is both their joy and their boast, their delight and their praise. God’s people have reason to be cheerful, and to boast in him all day long. Those who have that joy and glory do not need to envy the pleasure or pride of anyone else. The joy of God’s nation and the glory of his inheritance are enough to satisfy any heart, because they end in everlasting joy and glory.