Psalm Meditation 1180 ¶Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany ¶January 29, 2023 ¶Psalm 34 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+34&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶We like to think that it is God’s job to save us from everything unpleasant about life in this world. We want to be saved from sitting next to people we don’t like, especially when everyone is in close quarters. We want to be protected from people who are scary to us, folks we are afraid will do us some kind of lasting harm. It may not occur to us that some of those people are praying to be protected from us, and whatever it is about us that fills them with fear and dread. ¶God is not going to save us from every scary person, event, or situation. God may even push, prod, and cajole us into some of those as teachable moments. The salvation that will come to us in fearful situations is the reminder that God is with us in this and every time and place. Even if we are injured or die, the presence of the God is there to hold us in every circumstance. We may not even be aware of the ways that God is present among us. It could be a person, a breeze, a spark of imagination, and any number of other ways of being present. ¶God is far beyond our ability to imagine and comprehend. Just as God can be all places at once, so can God be with folks on every side of a fearful situation. God loves us beyond measure and redeems us from all manner of trouble. It may not be the way we would expect or appreciate being loved and redeemed, however God is with us as a loving presence in every time and place. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord rescues them from them all.” ¶January 23, 2023 ¶LCM