The Curious Pilgrim

What God Is Saying Through This Week’s Daily Office Readings

Readings: Psalm 116 • Zephaniah 3:14–20 • Mark 15:47–16:7

There is one word that echoes through today’s readings: compassion.

The psalmist declares,

“Our God is full of compassion. He is gracious and righteous.”

What a beautiful description of God’s character. God watches over the innocent, hears our cries, and remains faithful through every season of life.

Then the psalmist makes a statement that has always caused me to pause:

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his servants.”

At first, those words almost seem out of place. Why would a psalm celebrating God’s compassion suddenly speak about death?

Over the years, I have read those words at many funerals. I have come to believe they do belong exactly where they are. They remind us that God’s compassion does not end at the grave. Death is never insignificant to God. Those whom God loves are never forgotten. Even in our final breath, we remain precious in God’s sight.

Zephaniah continues the same message.

“Do not fear.”

“The Lord your God is in your midst.”

“He will renew you with his love.”

Those words remind me of the heart of the Gospel: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” (John 3:16). God’s answer to our fears has never been abandonment but love. Again and again, God comes to us, not to condemn us but to restore us.

The women who came to Jesus’ tomb on Easter morning knew what fear and disappointment felt like. Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, expected to care for the body of the One they loved. Their hopes had been shattered on Friday. As they walked toward the tomb, I imagine they wondered, “What happens now?”

Then everything changed.

“He is not here. He has risen, just as he said.”

Those words have echoed through history because they speak to every moment when life seems defeated by death, when hope seems buried beneath disappointment, and when love appears to have lost.

I know those feelings.

It took me years to grieve the stillbirth of our daughter, Amanda Joy. There were seasons marked by poor choices, the pain of divorce, disappointments, and moments when I wondered whether I had failed more often than I had succeeded.

Yet, looking back, I can see something I often missed while I was living through those painful days.

The compassionate God was there.

God never abandoned me. God kept renewing me with love, often in ways I could not recognize until much later. Like the women at the empty tomb, I eventually discovered that what appeared to be an ending was not the end of the story.

The resurrection reminds us that despair never has the final word.

The God who treasures us in life also treasures us in death.

The God who meets us in our grief also calls us into new life.

The God whose compassion never fails continues to whisper into every fearful heart:

“Do not be afraid.”