Psalm Meditation 1185 ¶Second Sunday in Lent ¶March 5, 2023 ¶Psalm 69 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+69&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶It only takes a small group of people who hate you to make you feel as if it is everyone. Many of us will experience and remember negatives much more deeply than we do positives. If it gets intense and prolonged we even begin to believe all the negative hype and gossip that floods our psyches. This is probably why bullied teens, especially, can be pushed to suicidal thoughts if not actions. Without a solid support system, intense bullying becomes dangerous to the point of being deadly. ¶Once one person succumbs to the onslaught of bullying, it emboldens the bullies to focus on another of a similar group. If someone can be separated from their support system by luring them into the bully group they become susceptible to the same abuse as the previous victim. The psalmist is feeling the strain of being pulled from a group of God seekers to the vulnerable position of having no support from the seekers or the bullies. The psalmist does not want any of the seekers group to be shamed into leaving the group for the sake of the false friendship and support of the bully group. ¶When the people of God can continually offer our support to those who are vulnerable, we may be able to save them from the abusive bullying that is becoming prevalent in so many areas of the country, and perhaps the world. As we are willing and able to offer the steadfast love of God to all those around us we may be able to keep people safe by loving both bullies and victims. Surviving victims of bullying may want their bullies to be destroyed by violent means. God offers what is always offered, to destroy our enemies by making them allies in some form. “For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own who are in bonds.” ¶February 27, 2023 ¶LCM