A Prayer for Restoration

Psalm 80

Psalm 79 was a description of the fall of the Southern Kingdom of Israel. Psalm 80 is a description of the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The Northern Kingdom fell before the Southern kingdom did. The Northern Kingdom fell around 722 BC to the Assyrians. The reason we know this Psalm describes that fall is all the tribes mentioned in verse 2 belonged to the Northern Kingdom.

There is a chorus that is repeated in this Psalm. We see it in verses 3, 7 and 19. It comes from Numbers 6:25. That passage has become known as the Aaronic blessing. Aaron, the High Priest, and his sons were to speak this blessing over the people of Israel. The blessing was:

“The LORD bless you and keep you

The LORD make His face shine to upon you and be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”

The phrase “The Lord make His face to shine upon you” symbolized the blessing of the Lord. It implied prosperity and security.

The Psalmist wants sees the Northern Kingdom under the disciplining hand of the Lord and wants the discipline to cease. Notice something very important. Before he asks for the blessing of the Lord he asks the Lord to turn the people back to God. He says, “Turn us again” or “Restore us”. The Psalmist knows that the people must turn back to god if they are to experience the blessings of the Lord.

Spurgeon said of verse 3 “When the Lord turns His people He will soon turn their condition.” If the people are restored to God, the disciplining hand of the Lord will ease up. The chorus in this Psalm shows us that the intent of these passages is for God, by His grace, to lead His people to repentance so they can indeed experience restoration.

We will outline the Psalm at the chorus.

1. Prayer to the Shepherd of Israel (1-3).

2. The Pitiful State of the people (4-7).

3. Plea for the Husbandman to return (8-19).

1. Prayer to the Shepherd of Israel (1-3).

A. A shepherd hears the cry of his sheep.

The job of a shepherd was a 24 hour a day job. No matter what time of the night, if the shepherd heard his sheep crying, he would come to their aid. The Psalmist recognizes God as the Shepherd of Israel. This is a title Jesus would claim for Himself in the New Testament. He said, “I am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11).

In both Testaments God has likened Himself to a Shepherd and His people to sheep. We ought to embrace Christ as our Shepherd.

When the wolf comes, we ought to bleat!

When we find ourselves stuck in a pit, we ought to bleat!

When we are frightened, we ought to bleat!

It is a sign of humility to constantly pray. It is a sign of trust to continually pray. The Good Shepherd should constantly hear the bleating of His sheep.

B. A shepherd leads his sheep.

“Joseph”, Jacob’s favorite son, is another name for the nation of Israel and here refers to the Northern Kingdom. The Psalmist ultimately saw God as his leader, not the patriarchs. Now the Shepherd has led His sheep into the valley of the shadow of death. The ten Northern Tribes have been overthrown by the Assyrians. Many of them have been taken as prisoners of war and turned into slaves.

The Psalmist wants the Good Shepherd to lead His sheep out of this situation. God had been faithful to lead them out of Egypt. His hope is the Lord will come and save them now.

C. A Shepherd protects his sheep.

God is described as the One who dwells between the cherubim. In the Holy of Holies there was a piece of furniture called the Ark of the Covenant. On top of the Ark was the Mercy Seat. It was a lid that had two cherubim facing one another resting on it. On the Day of Atonement, the blood of the sacrifice for the sins of the people was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat. It was there that God said He would meet with His people (Exodus 25:22). Therefore, God dwelt between the cherubim.

The Psalmist asks God to “shine forth”. In other words, “Show your power!” In verse 2 he asks the Lord stir up His strength and come and save them. In Christ we have a Shepherd who has shown His power. Jesus said when the wolf comes to get the sheep the hireling flees. He doesn’t care about the safety of the Sheep. Christ has given His life for the sheep. He fought for our souls to the death. He showed His power in the resurrection.

If Israel could rejoice in God as their Shepherd with limited knowledge, then certainly we can rejoice in God as our Shepherd. We see so much more than they saw. We know so much more than they knew.

Christ hears our prayers.

Christ leads us through this world and to the next.

Christ has defeated our greatest enemies.

2. The Pitiful state of Israel (4-7).

A. The silence of God (4).

The Psalmist states that the Lord is angry with the prayers of His people. He assumes that since God has not answered his prayers by sending relief then the Lord must be angry with His people. We often hear people say, “There is power in prayer.” This verse would contradict that. The power is not in the prayer. The power is in God. If God refuses to answer prayer, then we see how weak prayer really is.

This also reminds us that religious formalism does not guarantee that God is on our side. No amount of religious activity can substitute for a righteous life. When the Psalmist says God is angry at the prayers of His people, he means that God is angry with His people and therefore is not answering their prayers.

Israel’s idolatry and immorality had led them to a place of bondage. The Northern Kingdom fell because Israel fell into sin. Merely praying would not fix that. They were praying but God was silent.

B. The suffering of God’s people.

Poetic language is used to show the suffering of God’s people. In stead of hearing their prayer and answering them accordingly God gives them nothing but tears to eat and drink. Note the end of verse 5 “in great measure.” Abundant sorrow is given instead of abundant blessing.

They asked for blessing, they received burden. The Assyrians were a brutal people. Their reputation as a brutal people was one of the reasons Jonah didn’t want to preach to them. The written and archaeological evidence of the Assyrian people prove they were as brutal as the Bible records.

Israel was delivered into the hands of these people. The Northern Kingdom would never recover. This may surprise us. The Southern Kingdom did recover. We should remember that God does not have to show us mercy. The wages of sin is death. He could feed us nothing but sorrow for the rest of our life and that would be just. Any amount of blessing or forgiveness we receive from His hand is grace.

C. The shame of God’s people.

The surrounding nations laughed at Israel. Israel was humiliated. The Assyrians ran through them with ease. They destroyed the capital city of Samaria. They killed the people they wanted to kill. They took captive the people they wanted to take captive. They repopulated the city of Samaria with pagans who married some of the remaining Jewish women (2 Kings 17:24-41). Their offspring therefore was a mixture of Jewish and pagan. They were held in contempt among the Jews. We see this in the New Testament (John 4:9; 8:48).

The Jews of the Northern Kingdom appeared weak. It appeared the Lord had deserted them. This leads to the chorus being repeated, probably with more intensity this time. “Turn us again, O God of Hosts, and cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved!”

Even when are prayers are not answered we should keep praying. We should especially keep praying when we know what we are praying for is the will of God. God certainly wants sinners to repent. This prayer is a pray that can be prayed in any age. As we experience the silence of God, see the suffering of God’s people and the shameful way they are regarded we ought to pray that the Lord would turn His people back to Himself and bless them with forgiveness and restoration.

3. The Plea for the Husbandman to return (8-19).

A. A description of the vine (8-11).

Israel, many times in Scripture, is compared to a vine or a vineyard. A vineyard symbolizes joy and fruitfulness. It’s a useful thing that blesses others. God planted Israel in the Promised Land to be a blessing to the land and the people.

Here we see a description of the Exodus and conquest of the Promised Land.

He took them out of Egypt.

He cast out the heathen. He cleared the land of the pagan people. Israel prevailed in war against the pagan people groups.

He planted them in the land.

They took deep root and filled the land. They conquered more and more territory.

We see Israel extending in verses 10-11. Clearly the Lord is the One who is causing their growth. The text says of God:

You brought a vine out of Egypt.

You drove out the nations.

You planted it.

You cleared the ground.

Israel grew very quickly. It was extended as a vine extends itself. This wasn’t a normal vine. It was thick and heavy. So thick it provided shade. So strong it grew up the mighty cedars and covered them. It stretched to the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates River (11). The cedars of Lebanon mark the Northern boundary, the Euphrates River marks the Eastern Boundary, the Mediterranean Sea marks the Western boundary.

God blessed this nation. It was nothing but a weak vine and God made it a great nation.

B. A description of the present state (12-13).

Israel, likened to a vineyard protected by a wall, is plundered. People simply come in and take what they want. The imagery is of a vineyard unprotected. Passersby simply take what they want with ease. The Psalmists asks the Lord why He has broken down this wall of protection.

God has done so much for them. The Psalmists wonders why God would go through all the trouble of removing this little vine from Egypt, clearing the land, planting the vine, and then extending it so far if He is just going to let it die. It doesn’t make sense to the Psalmist.

In verse 13 the enemies of Israel are likened to a wild boar. Boars were unclean animals (Deut. 14:8). They are also known as very destructive animals. They will not only devour a crop, but they will also root it up. When they are finished nothing is left.

All types of wild beasts join the boar in destroying Israel. The boar probably represented Assyria who initially destroyed Israel. The other wild beasts are probably surrounding nations who benefited from the destruction of Israel as well.

C. A desire for the Husbandman to return (14-19).

I understand we don’t use the term “husbandman” much anymore. It refers to a farmer. The Psalmist sees God as the farmer of Israel. Look at verse 15:

The vineyard which Your right hand planted.

The branch that You have made strong for Yourself.

The Psalmist is reminding God that He has a responsibility to care for His own vineyard. This vineyard belongs to him, it is His branch or his son.

It seems to the Psalmist that God has forgotten about this vineyard. In verse 14 he asks Him to return and look down from heaven to see the state of this vine. If He does that then the Psalmist is sure He will visit the vineyard with the intention of rescuing it.

The enemies of Israel have burned the vineyard up. They have cut it down. The Psalmist believes this should outrage the LORD. All the Lord would have to do is look in the direction of Israel’s enemies and they would be consumed.

As we come to the end, I want you to see the grounds on which the Psalmist’s hope rests. He believes deliverance will occur through the Son of Man, the man at the right hand of God (17). Clearly this is a reference to Jesus Christ, the Messiah. The people of God will find full restoration in the coming Messiah. In Him they could rest assured that they would, as verse 18 says:

Not turn back

Be quickened, made alive

Call upon the name of the LORD.

In John 15:1 Jesus said “I am the True Vine and My Father is the Husbandman.” We are branches who are attached to the True Vine, Jesus Christ. Apart from Him we have no life. But in Christ we have the very life of God. We can bear fruit for the glory of God. Because we are in Christ, we can be sure we will never be a deserted vineyard.

The Psalm ends with the chorus. It’s a beautiful plea for restoration. It should be the cry of every heart that strays from God. It’s a simple prayer “Turn me back to you God!”

Even if one does not know how to repent, they can pray that prayer.

Even if one does not want to repent, they can pray that prayer.

God will certainly answer that prayer.