Psalm Meditation 1202 ¶Proper 8 ¶July 2, 2023 ¶Psalm 80 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+80&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶When the most common style of leadership is an alpha male warrior, that becomes the image of your deity as well. So our God, YHWH, is seen as a warrior king who can be pouty and turn his back on us when we do anything to raise his ire. When we annoy or anger God, he leaves us to fend for ourselves against our neighboring enemies. God must then be appeased with compliments along with reminders that letting us get beat up makes him look weak and unable to defend his people. ¶That is the psalmists view. I hold a different opinion on how God is present among us. YHWH is the God of steadfast love who is present with us in every time and place, and stands among us at our strongest, our weakest, and all the points between. Through priests and prophets, God points us to a life of patient and steadfast love for people all around us. The way of steadfast love is more dangerous than the way of war and conflict. We will be hated for being different even as we love those who hate us. ¶Our human nature will move us in the direction of wanting to win as our adversaries lose. God will continue to move us in the direction of wanting to win our adversaries over to the way of steadfast love for all people. As people of God, we strive to grow deeper in love, to love those who love us, as well as those who hate us. It is a difficult task that God has set before us, one with which we have struggled for thousands of years. And yet, it continues to be a path worth the striving. “Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.” ¶June 26, 2023 ¶LCM