Reading the Scriptures is like doing a crossword puzzle. We have clues of how those who lived before us viewed God. We are to take these clues and relate them to our world and times. I read the Scriptures in the Daily Office each morning. What I share here is what the Holy Spirit shares with me as I read and meditate.
We live in a time when many people are exhausted—emotionally, spiritually, and socially. Anxiety is constant, judgment is loud, and compassion often feels scarce. Into this reality, today’s Scriptures offer not a single definition of God, but a living portrait, revealed through shelter, presence, mercy, and trust.
In Isaiah 25:1–9, God is named as “a refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm, and a shade from the heat.” This is not abstract theology. It is survival language. Isaiah speaks to people battered by injustice and uncertainty, reminding them that God does not stand above suffering but meets people within it. For our day, this image challenges us to stop asking where God is in the storm and instead to recognize that God is often what keeps us standing in the storm.
Psalm 20 echoes this assurance in communal prayer. The psalmist declares that some trust in chariots and horses—symbols of military and political power—but God’s people trust in the name of the Lord. In a world that places hope in wealth, weapons, and dominance, Psalm 20 reminds us that God’s strength does not mirror human power. God’s help arrives through faithfulness, solidarity, and divine presence, not force.
The vision in Revelation 1:19–20 shifts the focus from comfort to confidence. John, exiled and vulnerable, sees the risen Christ walking among the lampstands—the churches. This image tells us that God is not absent from fragile communities or persecuted believers. God is present, watchful, and sustaining light in the darkness. Even when institutions shake and the future feels uncertain, Christ remains among the people, holding them in care.
Then John 7:53–8:11 brings us face to face with how God’s power is lived out on the ground. Jesus refuses to weaponize the law against a woman used as a trap by religious leaders. Instead of condemnation, he offers dignity, truth, and a path forward. This passage speaks directly to a culture quick to shame and slow to forgive. God’s holiness, Jesus shows us, is expressed not through humiliation but through restoration.
Taken together, these texts reveal a God who is shelter without softness, authority without cruelty, and mercy without denial of truth. God protects the vulnerable, stands present with struggling communities, resists self-righteous violence, and calls people to trust something deeper than power or fear.
For our day, this means faith is not about defending God, but reflecting God—being refuge for the weary, light in confusion, mercy in judgment, and hope when the world insists on despair. The God revealed in these Scriptures is still at work, inviting us not only to believe, but to embody what divine love looks like now.
The Curious Pilgrims 