Psalms 80
Psalms 80:1-19 (NLT)
1 For the choir director: A psalm of Asaph, to be sung to the tune “Lilies of the Covenant.” Please listen, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph’s descendants like a flock. O God, enthroned above the cherubim, display your radiant glory
2 to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. Show us your mighty power. Come to rescue us!
3 Turn us again to yourself, O God. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.
4 O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, how long will you be angry with our prayers?
5 You have fed us with sorrow and made us drink tears by the bucketful.
6 You have made us the scorn of neighboring nations. Our enemies treat us as a joke.
7 Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven’s Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.
8 You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine; you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land.
9 You cleared the ground for us, and we took root and filled the land.
10 Our shade covered the mountains; our branches covered the mighty cedars.
11 We spread our branches west to the Mediterranean Sea; our shoots spread east to the Euphrates River.
12 But now, why have you broken down our walls so that all who pass by may steal our fruit?
13 The wild boar from the forest devours it, and the wild animals feed on it.
14 Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven’s Armies. Look down from heaven and see our plight. Take care of this grapevine
15 that you yourself have planted, this son you have raised for yourself.
16 For we are chopped up and burned by our enemies. May they perish at the sight of your frown.
17 Strengthen the man you love, the son of your choice.
18 Then we will never abandon you again. Revive us so we can call on your name once more.
19 Turn us again to yourself, O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.
It’s in the shining of God’s face that salvation is known. Somehow, the perception of this shining is that it has been removed, and yet, in the 18th verse, there is reason given for this perception. Where the face of God is abandoned for other faces and other shiny objects, the face of the Almighty and His powerful salvation, deliverance, and provision have never altered; it’s just that the proximity to His shining has been abandoned. How significantly does the song’s content change to a victorious celebration for the one who has remained where the glory’s light has never diminished due to abandonment. While there may be reason to identify with the experiences of life represented here, there is also insight into a place in His glory that will ever have His face shining no matter the storm’s raging all around.