May 30

that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones, and rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, and give glory with Your inheritance. — Ps 106:5 BSB

What is “the gladness of God’s people?” It is to be saved “without money and without price,” to be saved by grace—free, rich, sovereign, distinguishing grace, without a shred of works or merit on our part, without any contribution from the flesh. This is the gladness of God’s nation: to rejoice in free grace, grace that superabounds over the abundance of sin, grace that reigns triumphantly over the evils of our hearts. It is grace that gladdens the heart. Sweet grace! Blessed grace! When it meets our need and reaches our soul, it is a help, a strength, a rest for the weary soul.

What a relief to the striving, laboring soul to know that grace has done all the work! That grace has triumphed in the cross of Christ. There is nothing to be done; it is a full, perfect, and finished work. What a sweet sound when this truth reaches the heart and is shed abroad in the soul!

This is the gladness of God’s nation—knowing that the work is finished, the warfare accomplished, and that the Church has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. This comforting sound makes God’s people glad, and their hearts leap for joy. Has your heart ever leapt at this sound? Has grace ever sounded so sweet in your soul that it made your heart dance with joy? If it has, then you know what “the gladness of God’s nation” is.