Psalm Meditation 1127 ¶Third Sunday After Epiphany ¶January 23, 2022 ¶Psalm 25 1 To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. 2 O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me. 3 Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. 4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. 5 Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long. 6 Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. 7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord! 8 Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. 9 He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. 10 All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees. 11 For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great. 12 Who are they that fear the Lord? He will teach them the way that they should choose. 13 They will abide in prosperity, and their children shall possess the land. 14 The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes his covenant known to them. 15 My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. 16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. 17 Relieve the troubles of my heart, and bring me out of my distress. 18 Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. 19 Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me. 20 O guard my life, and deliver me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. 21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you. 22 Redeem Israel, O God, out of all its troubles. (NRSV) ¶Every now and then the weight of the world attempts to crush us to the ground. When we attempt to hold off the crushing force alone, we will be destroyed. The weight will grow too much for us and we will be left exhausted and alone in a ball of flesh and sobs. As long as we believe that we can handle this alone, we are doomed. Worse yet, if we believe that no one cares about us, or that we are not worthy of another’s love and care, we are both doomed and despairing. ¶The psalmist tells us that we are not alone. At the very least, the steadfast love of God is available to protect us from, or stand with us in the crushing times of our lives. Seemingly going through one of these times, the psalmist forgets to mention that there are people around us who are also willing to love us in and through our trials. These are the folks who sit with us, hold us, talk to us, listen to us as we express our need for each of those. These folks are instruments and conduits of God’s love for us. ¶Having gone through a trial of any kind, we have the opportunity to offer help, security, and love to anyone going through a trial of their own. We can off them the same love and support we received, or we can offer the love and support we would have liked to receive. Either way, we can be people of God to those around us. ¶January 17, 2022 ¶LCM