“Restore
us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved!...Turn
again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard
for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted, and for the
son whom you made strong for yourself…Restore us, O Lord God of
hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!” -Psalm 80:7;
14-15; 19 (ESV) [Read Psalm 80]
This
Psalm is a community lament at a time when at least a portion of the
people have received hard treatment at the hand of Gentile
conquerors. The refrain, “Restore us, O God of hosts; let your
face shine that we may be saved!” is repeated in verses 3, 7 and
19.
The
occasion of the Psalm by Asaph is debated by scholars. Some believe
it represents the fall of the city of Samaria in 721 B. C. The
tribes mentioned in the Psalm are that of Joseph, the combined tribe
of his sons, Ephraim and Benjamin, and the tribe of Manesseh. The
writer remembers that “God brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove
out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it
took deep root and filled the land.” (vv. 8-9). Those were the
good days, when the refugees who had come out of Egyptian bondage
conquered the land of Canaan for their own homeland and established a
nation there. It is no wonder they liked to remember those days
before faithlessness and disobedience brought downfall. Now the
Psalmist is leading his people in praying that the vine may be
restored and the Lord’s face will shine upon them.
The
Psalm reminds us of words Jesus taught as recorded in John 15: 1-3:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every
branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away, and every
branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”
Having
grown up on a farm, I was familiar with the grapes that grew in both
my Grandfather’s and my father’s grape arbor. I observed how
well they tended the vines, pruning off some of the branches so that
the growth would be strong and productive. When I studied the words
of Jesus in Sunday School, I could understand the principle of
pruning off so that the major vine could be productive. And
likewise, in our Christian life, if we do not abide in Christ through
obedience to His Word and in prayer, we cannot have a productive
Christian life. Jesus ended the “abiding” passage by stating:
“These thing I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and
that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11, ESV).
Psalm
80 was a community lament and prayer for a nation. How we today in
America need to pray earnestly that God will “Restore us…and let
His face shine upon us, that we may be saved!” We are not only
speaking of the saving grace that initially brings us into the
vineyard of the Lord, but of the grace that forgives our wandering
astray—as we certainly have as a people, a nation—and the grace
that brings us back into fellowship with God to seek and follow His
ways. Let us pray that this may be so, and “Let it begin in me.”
-Ethelene
Dyer Jones 03.20.2016
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