Daily Office Readings for Monday, September 21, 2026
Psalm 89; Hosea 2:14–23; Acts 20:17–38; Luke 5:1–11
Source: The Book of Common Prayer, Proper 21
There are times when what we experience seems to contradict what we believe about God.
We experience loss, tragedy, illness, disappointment, broken relationships, and alienation. We remember the promises of God, but we cannot see how those promises are being fulfilled. We pray, but the answer does not come in the way we expected. We look around and wonder whether God has forgotten us.
Psalm 89 gives us permission to speak honestly during such times. The psalm begins by praising God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. It remembers God’s covenant with David and the promise that his line would endure. Yet the psalmist also looks at the suffering around him and cries out because the promise appears to have failed.
This is not the absence of faith. It is wounded faith still reaching toward God.
The psalmist does not hide his disappointment or walk away. He brings his confusion directly to God. Lament is an act of relationship. It says, “God, I do not understand what You are doing, but I am still speaking to You.”
Then Hosea carries us into the wilderness.
God speaks of wooing Israel back, leading her into the wilderness, and speaking tenderly to her. The wilderness is not merely a place of punishment. It becomes a place where a broken relationship can begin to heal.
God promises to transform the Valley of Achor—the Valley of Trouble—into a door of hope.
That image stays with me. God does not pretend that the trouble never happened. God enters the troubled place and makes it an opening into renewed life. The valley we thought was the end of the road may become the doorway through which grace leads us forward.
Restoration is more than escaping difficulty. It is the healing of a relationship. God says once again, “You are my people,” and the people answer, “You are my God.”
In Acts, Paul prepares to leave the elders of the church in Ephesus. He knows that hardship lies ahead, and he knows they will face dangers of their own. He reminds them that he served among them with humility, tears, and perseverance. He taught them publicly and privately, and he did not use ministry for personal gain.
Paul warns them to watch over themselves and the people entrusted to their care. Danger can come from outside the community, but it can also arise from within it. Even religious leaders can distort the truth and gather followers around themselves.
True spiritual leadership is not about control, position, or recognition. It is about serving humbly, discerning wisely, protecting the vulnerable, and giving ourselves in love. Paul reminds them of the words of Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Then we come to the lakeshore in Luke’s Gospel.
Simon Peter and his companions have worked all night and caught nothing. They are tired, disappointed, and washing their empty nets. Jesus meets them in the middle of that apparent failure.
“Put out into the deep water,” Jesus tells Simon, “and let down your nets for a catch.”
Simon knows the lake. He knows the fishing business. Everything in his experience tells him that another attempt will accomplish nothing. Yet he answers, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.”
The result is an overwhelming abundance of fish.
Simon falls before Jesus because he suddenly recognizes both the holiness of Jesus and his own unworthiness. But Jesus does not reject him. Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.”
Those words are essential. Simon is not called because he had a successful night. He is called after failure, exhaustion, and empty nets. His calling begins with grace rather than achievement.
Jesus takes what Simon already knows—boats, water, nets, and gathering fish—and transforms it into a new calling. Simon, James, and John bring their boats to shore, leave everything, and follow Jesus.
These four readings take us on a journey:
We begin with lament when God appears absent.
We enter the wilderness, where God speaks tenderly and turns trouble into a door of hope.
We stand with Paul, who calls us to serve humbly and care faithfully for one another.
Finally, we sit beside empty nets and hear Jesus say, “Do not be afraid. Put out into the deep water.”
Grace meets us in all these places—in the lament, the wilderness, the painful farewell, and the disappointment of empty nets. God does not wait for us to become successful, certain, or unafraid. God meets us where we are and invites us to take the next faithful step.
Sometimes that step is simply to keep speaking honestly to God.
Sometimes it is to listen for God’s tender voice in the wilderness.
Sometimes it is to care for the people entrusted to us.
And sometimes it is to lower the nets once more, even after a long night in which we have caught nothing.
The Curious Pilgrim does not always know what lies in the deeper water. We only know the One who asks us to go there.
Lord Jesus Christ, teach us to lament honestly when we cannot understand. Speak tenderly to us in the wilderness. Turn our valleys of trouble into doors of hope. Teach us to serve with humility, watch over one another with wisdom, and give ourselves in love. When our nets are empty and our strength is gone, tell us again not to be afraid. Give us the faith to put out into the deep water and follow wherever You lead. Amen.
The Curious Pilgrim 
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