Psalm 80 Devotional
by Pastor Lawrence

This psalm is another psalm of lament.  After an initial invocation by the psalmist calling for God’s help, in vv. 4-6, Asaph voices his complaint.  God seems angry with Israel and is not listening to their prayers.  They have wept deeply because of their many sufferings, and their enemies are laughing in scorn over their humiliation.  But then, in vv.8-13, just as in other psalms of lament, the psalmist begins to recall the past in how God had led his people out of Egypt and brought them into the Promised Land.  This recollection inspires the psalmist to cry out to God again for help trusting that He will answer his prayers at that time. 

There are four different images that Asaph references in this psalm that speak of God’s redemption and provision for His people in all times and ages.  First, Asaph begins with the imagery of the sheepfold calling God the “shepherd of Israel” who has led his people like a flock.  Although it is rare for the psalms to speak of God in this way, we do see David in Psalm 23 referring to the Lord as “my shepherd,” and in Psalm 28 he says to God, “Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!  Be their shepherd and carry them forever.”   In this psalm, Asaph asks God, as a shepherd, to give ear to the bleating of his sheep and to show his tender care for them.  At the moment, it seemed as if the shepherd was asleep on the job, but Asaph took fresh courage in the fact that God does faithfully watch over his people even in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death.  Even today, when we are tempted to think that God doesn’t care for us, we are reminded of the words of Jesus in John 10:11, saying, “I am the good shepherd who lays down his for the sheep.”

Asaph also refers to God as the vinedresser of Israel.   In v.8 he says, “You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.  You cleared the ground for it…and it filled the land.”  Of course, the primary complaint in this psalm is that God seems to have stopped tending His vine, for now the vine is cut down, ravaged and burned. The reason for this death and destruction is because of the unfaithfulness of Israel.  They did not live in fellowship with God because of their sin.  Later, in John 15:1, Jesus says to his disciples, “I am the vine, you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, but apart from me you can do nothing.”  God, our vinedresser, has never failed to tend to his vine, for he deeply cares for His son Jesus; it is we who have caught ourselves off from the Lord by our sin, and it is only as we come back to the Lord through Jesus that we receive life and bear fruit that lasts.         

The third image that Asaph pictures in this account is that of the Son of Man at God’s Right Hand.  Normally, this would have referred to the kings of Israel, but each one of those kings failed miserably.  Through this reference we learn something of the messianic hope of God’s people in the Son who was to come to save and to restore God’s people.  Of course, Jesus himself, is the prophesied Son of David who would come to conquer all of God’s enemies on earth.  It was this son that the psalmist put his hope in, ultimately, especially when all the earthly rulers failed so miserably.  

           Then, the fourth image can be found in the refrain (in vv.3,7, and 19), which is a very unusual device in the book of Psalms.  Here, three times, the psalmist says, “Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved!”  This language should remind us of the Aaronic Benediction in Numbers 6:24-26 where Moses commanded his brother Aaron to raise his hands over the congregation and pronounce these words: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shin upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”  This too points us to Christ, for Christ is the only one who deserves such a blessing because of his righteousness, but also he is the shining face of God upon sinners.  In Hebrews 1:3 the Scripture reads: “He is the radiance of the glory of God,” thus when we embrace Jesus, we are embracing the smile and blessing of God.  It is precisely because Christ is our good shepherd, our vine, God’s greater Son and the benediction of God upon sinners that we have hope for tomorrow, especially when we feel that all is hopeless.