YEAR 3, WEEK 1, Day 7, Sunday, 4 January 2026

https://esv.literalword.com/?q=Psalm+105;+Ezra+7

Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Sunday, 4 January 2026:

Psalm 105 and Psalm 106 go together purposefully. “This and the following psalm are companions. They reveal the two sides of the relation between God and His people during a long period. This one sings the song of His faithfulness and power; while the next tells the sad story of repeated failure and rebellion on the part of His people.” (G. Campbell Morgan)

Psalm 105:1 — Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!

The psalm opens with outward-facing worship. Gratitude is not meant to stay private; it is meant to be proclaimed. Remembering God rightly always leads to witness. Praise that never leaves the heart eventually fades, but praise that is spoken strengthens faith in both the speaker and the hearer. God’s deeds are meant to be rehearsed publicly so that faith is anchored in history, not emotion.

Psalm 105:2-3 — Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!

As in many other places in the psalms, God’s people are told the importance of praising Him in song. The songs should be sung to Him, and not to an audience or merely for one’s own pleasure. God commands singing because it uniquely unifies heart, mind, and voice to express profound joy, deep doctrine, and praise in ways simple speech can’t, acting as a powerful spiritual weapon, a means to remember His Word, a foretaste of heavenly worship, and a way to minister to each other, connecting emotion and truth to glorify Him fully.

Singing “to Him” emphasizes that God is not a distant subject of history but is actively present. It shifts worship from a passive lecture about God into a “dialogue” or direct “prayer” where the believer acknowledges God as the immediate listener.

“Sing praises to Him” adds a vertical dimension that prevents worship from becoming merely an “audience performance” or personal entertainment. It forces the worshiper to engage in an “authentic spiritual encounter” with the living God.

“Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!” Jonathan Edwards argued that God’s pursuit of His own glory is not in competition with human joy but is the very source of it. In The End for Which God Created the World, Edwards explains that when God seeks to display the fullness of who He is, He is simultaneously seeking our highest good. God’s glory and human joy are not rivals; they are inseparably joined. The Lord is most honored when His people are most satisfied in Him.
This makes sense because God’s glory is the highest good that exists. God acts for the sake of His name and will not share His inherent glory with another (Isaiah 48:9-11), not out of insecurity, but because there is nothing greater He could give. A perfectly good Creator must center all things on what is supremely good, and that supreme good is Himself. If God’s glory is the greatest reality, then delighting in that glory is the greatest joy available to any creature. There is nothing higher that could satisfy the human heart more fully.
Psalm 105:3 captures this connection plainly: glory and joy rise together. To glory in God’s holy name is to delight in His revealed character — His goodness, faithfulness, power, and mercy. The psalmist does not separate reverence from rejoicing. Those who seek the Lord are commanded to rejoice because seeking Him is the very reason they exist. We were created to behold, celebrate, and reflect His glory, and when we do, joy follows naturally. As Isaiah 43 teaches, God formed His people for His glory, and fulfillment is found only when life aligns with that purpose.
For those who belong to Christ, this truth carries deep assurance. God will not only reveal His glory, but He will bring His redeemed into its fullness with joy (Jude 24). The same glory that brings judgment to those who reject God becomes the source of overwhelming joy for those who have been redeemed. For the unrepentant, the day of the Lord is a day of dread; for those washed by the blood of the Lamb, it is the culmination of hope.
Seeking God’s glory, then, is not self-denial in the sense of loss. It is the pathway to true life. When we lay aside lesser ambitions for the sake of God’s glory, we are not forfeiting joy but finally finding it. Eternal joy is not discovered by pursuing happiness directly but by orienting life around the glory of the One for whom we were made.
Psalm 105:4-5 — Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered.

Seeking is continual, not seasonal. Strength flows from presence, not effort alone. The psalm links memory and perseverance: forgetting weakens faith, remembering fortifies it. God’s miracles and judgments together reveal both mercy and holiness.

The Christian life is a daily endeavor to grow closer to Jesus and to know Him or intimately. Perhaps Psalm 105 was on the mind of St. Richard when he penned his life prayer which became the popular song Day by Day in the 1960s.

St Richard (1197-1253) was born in Droitwich (Worcestershire, England) and raised as an orphan child of a gentry family. St Richard dedicated his life to the ministry and served as Bishop of Chichester from 1244 to 1253. The below prayer is said to be his last utterances before dying and is inscribed on his tomb:

“Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which you have given us, for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us. Most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother, may we know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, day by day. Amen.” “Day by day, oh, dear Lord, three things I pray: To see thee more clearly, Love thee more dearly, Follow thee more nearly, day by day.” Is that your prayer today?

Psalm 105:1-6 – Provides specific guidance for guarding and nourishing your soul for a flourishing life:

• Give thanks to God
• Call upon Him
• Talk about Him to others
• Sing to Him – really. Sing to Him
• Demonstrate His character in gratitude and worship (Glory means to celebrate and to show, and when the Bible talks about someone’s name, they are talking about, not just what they are called, but their character)
• Rejoice in Him
• Seek Him (all the time and forever) to know Him personally, experientially
• Remember, recount all that He as done
• Remember you are chosen by Him as His child. He loves you!

Psalm 105:6-11 — O offspring of Abraham…. He remembers his covenant forever….

God’s faithfulness is covenantal, not circumstantial. The psalm grounds present trust in God’s unbroken promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What God swore long ago still governs the present. Faith grows when God’s people interpret their lives through covenant rather than convenience.

Psalm 105:12-15 — When they were few in number… wandering from nation to nation…

God protected His people when they were weak, unknown, and vulnerable. Security never came from numbers or power but from God’s watchful care. Even wandering was purposeful under divine oversight.

Psalm 105:16-22 — When he summoned a famine…. He had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph….

God works ahead of crisis. What looked like betrayal was preparation. Joseph’s suffering was not wasted; it became the means of preservation. God’s sovereignty weaves obedience, suffering, and timing together for purposes unseen at the moment.

Psalm 105:23-25 — Then Israel came to Egypt… whose heart he turned to hate his people….

God even governs hostility without authoring evil. Opposition becomes the stage on which God displays power. Growth often invites resistance, but resistance cannot derail God’s plan.

Psalm 105:26-38 — He sent Moses his servant…. He brought out Israel with silver and gold….

Redemption is decisive. God acts publicly, powerfully, and unmistakably. Deliverance is not quiet; it is unmistakable. The psalm recounts plagues not to glorify judgment but to magnify salvation.

Psalm 105:39–45 — For he remembered his holy promise… that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws.

This is the climax: redemption has a purpose. God saves so His people might obey in right relationship with Him that they would not only glorify Him but be fully blessed by Him and become closer to Him as they become increasingly like Him. Grace is not an endpoint but an empowerment. Freedom leads to faithfulness.

Psalm 105:43 – So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing.”

God does not intend to keep you from trials and tribulations but rather to lead you through them with joy and singing. God intends both good times and bad times to draw you closer to Him. He is where we find joy despite circumstances.

Psalm 105:44, 45 — And he gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil, that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws. Praise the Lord!

Psalm 105:44–45 makes God’s purpose unmistakably clear. The Lord gave His people the lands of the nations and allowed them to take possession of the fruit of others’ toil not as a reward for superior effort, but as an act of sovereign grace. This theme runs consistently through Scripture. Moses warned Israel that they would live in cities they did not build and enjoy vineyards they did not plant (Deuteronomy 6:10–11). Joshua later affirmed that God gave them land for which they had not labored and towns they had not built (Joshua 24:13). The message is humbling: everything they enjoyed ultimately came from the hand of God. He is the victorious King who conquers, distributes the spoils, and provides abundantly for His people beyond what their own strength could ever achieve.

Yet the psalm is explicit about the reason for this generosity: “that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws.” Blessing is never the final goal; wholehearted, loving obedience is. God’s provision is meant to cultivate faithfulness, gratitude, and love, not complacency or entitlement. Israel’s inheritance was an expression of God’s covenant faithfulness and a call to live distinctly among the nations. They were to embody God’s character, revealing His kingdom through obedience rooted in love. This is why Scripture consistently ties blessing to responsibility. Grace does not cancel obedience; it empowers it.

Jesus reinforces this same principle in the New Testament. In His parables, He teaches that faithfulness leads to greater stewardship, while unfaithfulness results in loss. “For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away” (Matthew 25:29; see also Luke 19:26). This is not about earning favor, but about responsiveness to grace. Those who receive God’s gifts with trust, obedience, and love are entrusted with more; those who hoard or misuse grace expose hearts disconnected from the Giver.

Ultimately, Psalm 105 points us forward to Christ. Jesus is the true heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2), and through Him believers receive an inheritance they did not earn (Ephesians 1:11; 1 Peter 1:3-4). Our salvation itself is the greatest example of “the fruit of another’s toil.” We live by grace purchased at infinite cost by Christ’s obedience, suffering, and victory. As Paul reminds us, “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). God’s blessings—material, spiritual, eternal—are meant to lead us into deeper obedience motivated by love, so that our lives reflect His glory and make His kingdom visible in the world.

Ezra 7:1–6 — Now after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra… a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses….

Ezra enters the narrative at a decisive moment in Israel’s restoration. The temple stands, but the people’s hearts are unformed and unstable. God does not send a warrior or a builder; He sends a man shaped by the Word. Ezra is described not merely as educated but as “skilled in the Law of Moses,” a phrase that points to long, disciplined, relational immersion in God’s revealed truth. This is not about mastering information but about being mastered by it. Scripture is not treated as a tool for success (though it facilitates real success) but as the means of abiding in the living God Himself.

Throughout the Bible, God consistently links fruitfulness, courage, clarity, and endurance to sustained engagement with His Word. Joshua was told that strength and success would come not from strategy or force, but from meditating on God’s law day and night and carefully living it out (Joshua 1:8–9). Jesus later echoes this truth, saying, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). Freedom, maturity, and discernment flow from remaining in God’s Word because remaining in God’s Word is remaining in God Himself.

Ezra’s life reflects what Jesus prays for His disciples in John 17. God’s Word sanctifies—sets apart, clarifies identity, and forms character. “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). Ezra does not separate devotion from mission. Immersion in Scripture fuels obedience, obedience shapes witness, and witness glorifies God. This is the pattern of abiding that Jesus later describes: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). Abiding produces alignment — of desires, prayers, and actions — with God’s heart.

Psalm 119 captures the inner life of someone like Ezra. God’s Word guards the heart, clarifies the path, and sustains purity: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word” (Psalm 119:9). “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). Ezra’s skill in the Law is not academic brilliance; it is lived wisdom, moral clarity, and spiritual stability rooted in loving obedience.

This is not about adopting biblical “best practices” for improved outcomes. It is about knowing the God who is our life. Scripture is the primary means by which we come to know Him, abide in Him, and are slowly transformed to be like Him. Jesus makes this personal and invitational: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me… For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Abiding in God’s Word is not the hard life; it is the restful one. Obedience born of love is not burdensome — “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).

The hard life is resisting God, ignoring His Word, and kicking against the goads (Acts 26:14). Ezra’s life stands as a quiet but powerful testimony that true strength, favor, and effectiveness flow from remaining deeply rooted in God’s Word. The text tells us that “the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him” (Ezra 7:6). God’s hand rests on those who rest in His Word.

What about you? Are you merely informed by Scripture, or are you abiding in it? Are you using God’s Word to improve your life, or allowing it to shape your heart so that you might know God, love Him, and reflect Him more fully? Ezra’s example calls you to more than discipline — it calls you to intimacy. Abide in His Word, and you will find that He is your life, your joy, and your rest.

Ezra 7:7-10 — For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

This verse defines true spiritual leadership. Ezra’s order matters: study, do, teach. Knowledge without obedience breeds hypocrisy; obedience without knowledge breeds confusion. Ezra embodies integrity — heart, life, and instruction aligned. Renewal always requires leaders shaped by the Word before they speak it.

Ezra 7:9, 10 — The good hand of his God was on him. For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

In today’s readings the lives of Ezra, Simeon, Joseph, Anna, and Jesus reveal important characteristics of God’s servants of which we should seek to emulate: First, they diligently and humbly studied God’s word, lived by it, and taught it to others (Ezra 7:9, 10; Luke 2:46-52). Second, they were committed to fervent prayer (Luke 2:37, 38). Third, they were obedient to God’s word but were also submissive to earthly authorities – even Jesus submitted to the authority of his earthly parents while simultaneously teaching them (Luke 2:4, 2:51). Fourth, they had earned reputations as “righteous”, “insightful”, “wise”, and “devout” people (Ezra 8:16, 18, 21; Luke 2: 25, 52). Fifth, they were guided by the Spirit, seeking to fulfill God’s purposes rather than their own, and trusting on God’s provision rather than that of men (Ezra 8:22; Luke 2:25-27). These were lives surrendered to God and used mightily for God’s purposes and to God’s glory. Are you ready to be a living sacrifice? Are you ready to assume your role as a priest like Ezra?

• Romans 12:1 — I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
• 1 Peter 2:4, 5 — As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
• 1 Peter 2:9 — But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
• Revelation 1:5, 6 — From Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Ezra was known throughout the land, even by the king, as a faithful man of God. For what are you most known? As Ezra stepped out in faith to follow God’s direction for his life, God worked where Ezra had no power in order to accomplish His purposes and bring glory to Himself – he changed the heart of the king to allow the Temple to be built and to supply the financial needs. When serving God, do you do only what you know you have the power to do, or do you trust that God will provide? Though Ezra accepted support from the king, he refused to depend on human institutions because he knew he could depend on God. (v. 8:22) He recognized that dependence on government would compromise his witness to a watching world. Do you at times look for human solutions rather than trusting in God? You may not consider yourself a temple builder, but you are. You are the Temple as is the Church collective. (1 Corinthians 3:17, 1 Corinthians 6:19, Ephesians 2:21). Are we building day by day to bring the greatest glory to God? What can we learn from Ezra?

“Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” Again, teachers must be, both, studiers and doers. Many want to teach so they study diligently, driven mostly by pride as their knowledge puffs them up. Real teachers are doers who model what is right based upon a deep understanding of God’s word. Notice that Jesus taught by word and example, with real authority.

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing…. Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.” (James 1:22-25, 4:11) Diligent study of God’s word without careful application is actually deceitful, convincing the studier that they have actually arrived somewhere in their intellectual ascent, causing a pride which prevents any real learning (pride is where learning stops), impeding Christlike character development rather than furthering it. Even worse, James points out that when we intellectually know God’s word but fail to do it, we “judge the law,” committing the original sin of acting as if we know better than God, placing ourselves above God in our own minds, outraging the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 10:29). We must be very careful to obey God’s word, particularly when it goes against our thoughts and desires, until we eventually come to embody God’s word.

Ezra 7:11-26 — This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest….

Again, God again uses pagan authority to advance covenant purposes. Provision flows freely. The king funds worship, empowers teaching, and protects obedience. God’s sovereignty extends beyond Israel’s borders. When God commissions His servant, He also supplies what obedience requires – “His will, His bill”.

Ezra 7:14 — For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the Law of your God, which is in your hand….

Ezra used God’s word to evaluate the situation and the condition of His people.

Ezra 7:16 – …with all the silver and gold that you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia, and with the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, vowed willingly for the house of their God that is in Jerusalem.

Even the king of Persia expected Jews in exile to want to give money to maintain worship in the temple in Jerusalem.

Ezra 7:24 — We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll on anyone of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.

The church had a tax-exempt status.

Ezra 7:25 — …appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God.

Judges were to judge based on God’s laws, not personal opinion or popular opinion.

Ezra 7:27-28 — Blessed be the Lord… who extended to me his steadfast love….

Ezra responds with worship, not self-congratulation. Favor is traced back to God’s hand, not Ezra’s ability. Strength arises from recognizing grace. Gratitude fuels courage.

God controls the hearts of kings. God will make national leadership respond if His people are faithful to God. God uses ungodly leaders to punish His unfaithful people. The most influential people in politics are God’s people, based not upon what they do in the voting booths but rather what they do before God daily and publicly.

Taken together, Psalm 105 and Ezra 7 reveal a unified truth: God is faithful across generations, and His faithfulness calls for informed, obedient, grateful response. Psalm 105 teaches us to remember what God has done. Ezra 7 teaches us to respond rightly to that remembrance through devotion to God’s Word. Memory without obedience becomes nostalgia. Obedience without memory becomes legalism. God desires both: hearts anchored in His past faithfulness and lives shaped by His present Word.

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) — 4 January 2026: Reorder your devotion. Identify one way you can intentionally remember God’s faithfulness (testimony, journaling, Scripture reflection) and one concrete way you will align your life with God’s Word today. Study it. Do it. Share it. Let remembrance fuel obedience, and let obedience deepen joy.

Pray: “Father, You are faithful to every promise You have ever made. Forgive me when I forget Your works or separate gratitude from obedience. Set my heart like Ezra’s — to seek Your Word, to live it, and to reflect it faithfully. Help me remember Your mighty acts so my faith stands firm, and shape my life by Your truth so my obedience flows from love. Strengthen me by Your presence and lead me in joyful faithfulness for Your glory. Amen.”