Tuesday, July 28, 2026From the news

Held in Everlasting Arms

In the face of profound betrayal and grief, we find our ultimate comfort and security not in human hands, but in the faithful and everlasting arms of God.

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18 (ESV)

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 (ESV)

My dear friend, it is hard to read the news from Hull without feeling a deep ache in our souls. To hear of families whose final goodbyes were so cruelly corrupted, whose trust was so profoundly violated, is simply heartbreaking. The details are stomach-turning: loved ones left to decay, ashes of strangers given with a smile, sacred mementos swept away like trash. This story wounds us because it strikes at one of our most sacred duties: to care for our dead and to grieve with dignity. In these moments of shock and sorrow, where can we turn?

The pain these families are enduring is immense. They are, in the truest sense of the words, brokenhearted and crushed in spirit. And it is into that exact space that God speaks a word of tender comfort. The psalmist assures us, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” Let that promise sink in for a moment. God is not distant from this horror. He is not standing far off. He is near. He draws close to the weeping daughter, the grieving husband, the family wrestling with trauma and nightmares. He sits with them in their pain, collecting every tear, and His presence is their salvation.

But the violation goes even deeper, doesn't it? It touches our fears about what happens after we die. A husband feels guilty for not fulfilling his wife’s final wishes. A daughter feels violated wearing a stranger’s ashes. There is a sense that something eternal has been tainted. It is here that the Gospel shines its light into our darkest fears. The Apostle Paul writes to a grieving church, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.”

Take heart in this unshakable truth. The ultimate security of our loved ones who have died in faith does not rest in a casket, an urn, or a burial plot. It rests in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Their dignity was not ultimately in the hands of a funeral director, but was, and is, held securely in the hands of their Savior. What was done to their earthly bodies is a terrible evil, a profound desecration. But it has no power over their souls, and it will not prevent the promise of their resurrection. Because Jesus died and rose again, their future is guaranteed. The God who numbers the hairs on our head knows precisely where each of His children rests. He will not lose a single one.

Let us hold the grieving families of Hull in our hearts today. And let us allow this tragedy to recalibrate our own hope. Our rituals of remembrance are good and important, but our ultimate confidence is not in them. Our confidence is in the God who conquered the grave. No human failure, no act of evil, can ever separate our loved ones from His eternal, loving care. They are not lost. They are with Him.