Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 80

Psalm 80 is Asaph’s prayer for the northern kingdom of the Jews to be restored to God and saved from the Assyrian captivity. As Christians, we too face an enemy that threatens our freedom in Christ and that enemy is our sin nature.

Psalm 80:1-2

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.  Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might and come to save us!

The reference to Shepherd of Israel speaks to us of Jesus.

Psalm 80:3
Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Though I believe the Bible teaches that our salvation is secured forever, when we fall into sin we need deliverance. We need to be restored to God through the power of the Holy Spirit. We need God’s face to shine upon us to save us from our sin.

Psalm 80:4-6
O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?  You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure.  You make us an object of contention for our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves.

It is possible for God to be angry with us. So angry, that even our prayers anger Him. Like the Jews, our sin can bring derision to us and our enemies will laugh at our own folly.

Psalm 80:7
Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved!

The answer? Ask God to shine upon your face.

The psalmist uses a vine to describe Israel. Jesus used the term vine to describe Himself and even His followers. In Revelation 14:17-20, John tells us what will happen to the bad fruit of the vine of the earth.

Revelation 14:18-20
And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.”  So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.  And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.

Maybe today you are feeling the effects of sin. Maybe you are wrestling with an addiction or caught up in behavior that has you bound up in a stronghold. Maybe you are just waiting to thrown into the winepress of the wrath of God. If so, then you are where you need to be. You are at the point in which you understand the depths of your sinfulness. Go to your knees and pray to God in confession and repentance. Pray what the psalmist has prayed three times in this psalm.

Psalm 80:19
Restore us, O LORD God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Jesus longs to shine His face upon you. Why? That we may be saved.