Who Is Like the Lord Our God?

The Curious Pilgrim — Daily Office Reflection
Friday, August 14, 2026

Psalm 113 | 1 Samuel 2:1–10 | John 2:1–12

“Who is like the Lord our God?” — Psalm 113:5

After several days of readings about consequences, uncertainty, difficult choices, rebellion, imprisonment, and suffering, today’s Daily Office readings seem to take us somewhere different.

Today we encounter praise, gratitude, joy, and abundance.

Psalm 113 begins and ends with praise.

The psalmist asks a wonderful question:

“Who is like the Lord our God?”

God is exalted above the nations, yet God is not distant from ordinary human life.

God sees the poor.

God notices the needy.

God lifts those whom others overlook.

The God who reigns over creation is also the God who cares about the circumstances of our lives.

Then we hear Hannah sing.

Hannah knows what it means to wait.

She knows disappointment, humiliation, longing, and unanswered prayer. She desperately wanted a child.

Then Samuel was born.

Hannah recognizes Samuel as a gift from God, and she responds with praise.

But Hannah’s song becomes about much more than receiving the child for whom she prayed.

She praises a God who overturns our expectations.

The mighty can be brought low.

The weak can be lifted up.

The hungry can be filled.

Those who seem to have nothing can discover abundance.

Hannah has discovered something about the mysterious grace of God.

Sometimes we wait.

Sometimes we wonder.

Sometimes we cannot see what God is doing.

And then something happens that causes us to look back and say:

God was here.

Then we travel to a wedding in Cana.

The wine runs out.

Compared with some of the situations we have encountered in the Daily Office this week, this may seem like a small problem.

Nobody is being murdered.

Nobody is plotting a rebellion.

Nobody is being beaten or imprisoned.

A family celebrating a wedding is simply about to experience an embarrassing situation.

But Mary notices.

She tells Jesus:

“They have no wine.”

Jesus turns water into wine.

And not merely enough wine.

There is an abundance.

And it is good wine.

The steward even wonders why the best wine has been saved until now.

I love this story.

Jesus’ first sign in John’s Gospel takes place at a celebration.

There is a wedding.

There are people gathered together.

There is food.

There is wine.

There is joy.

And God is there.

Sometimes we become so focused upon suffering, sacrifice, sin, and consequences that we forget another part of our pilgrimage.

There is joy, too.

There are celebrations.

There are friendships.

There are meals shared around tables.

There is laughter.

There are unexpected gifts.

There are prayers of thanksgiving.

And sometimes there is ordinary water that becomes extraordinary wine.

Perhaps today’s readings invite us simply to notice.

Hannah brings her longing.

The servants bring ordinary water.

God brings something neither could produce for themselves.

Samuel.

Wine.

Gift.

Abundance.

Grace.

That makes me wonder:

How often does God’s grace appear in ordinary things that I fail to notice?

Perhaps I am looking for a miracle so large that I overlook the grace sitting right in front of me.

A conversation with a friend.

A meal shared with someone I love.

A beautiful piece of music.

A kind word.

A prayer answered in an unexpected way.

A moment of laughter.

A quiet morning.

A place at the table.

Maybe these are not interruptions in the spiritual life.

Maybe they are the spiritual life.

This week’s Daily Office journey has taken us through some difficult territory.

We have learned that grace meets us amid consequences.

We have been asked to trust when we cannot see the whole picture.

We have been reminded that our choices matter.

We have discovered that sometimes the choices of other people change the road we are traveling.

And now, on Friday, perhaps God is inviting us to stop.

Look around.

And notice the gifts.

The Curious Pilgrim cannot spend the entire journey looking for God only in the wilderness.

We must also learn to recognize God at the wedding feast.

So today I am carrying a much simpler question:

Where have I seen God’s goodness today?

Maybe the answer doesn’t need to be dramatic.

Maybe it is something very ordinary.

Something small.

Something beautiful.

Something that makes us stop for just a moment and give thanks.

And perhaps, after all the questions we have asked this week, today we don’t need another answer.

Perhaps today the pilgrim simply looks around in gratitude and joins the psalmist in asking:

“Who is like the Lord our God?”

Praise the Lord.