Today's Featured Psalm
Psalm 80

Read this Psalm

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Testimony. Of Asaph, a Psalm.

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

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

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

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

8 You brought a vine out of Egypt;
   you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it;
   it took deep root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
   the mighty cedars with its branches.
11 It sent out its branches to the sea
   and its shoots to the River.
12 Why then have you broken down its walls,
   so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13 The boar from the forest ravages it,
   and all that move in the field feed on it.

14 Turn again, O God of hosts!
   Look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
   15 the stock that your right hand planted,
   and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
16 They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down;
   may they perish at the rebuke of your face!
17 But let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
   the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!
18 Then we shall not turn back from you;
   give us life, and we will call upon your name!

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

Scripture taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Psalm Devotional
Turn Us Again

When you look at the real state of the church in the Old Testament period–and today–you will easily understand why fully one-third of the Bible’s psalms are songs of lament. The Gadarene rush of the mainline denominations of our time to sanction same-sex “marriages” and approve practicing homosexual clergy marks the definitive overthrow of biblical morality in favor of the standards of what Paul calls the “debased mind” (Rom. 1:28). This can only be a cause of lamentation on the part of God’s people.

Psalm 80 is such a lament and we will grasp it best, when we see it as asking–and answering–three questions that appeal to the Lord to save the visible church from her sad and broken state.

The psalmist knows that God is the pastor of his church–of those who know him truly, experientially and practically. The Lord was Israel’s shepherd in the past (vv. 1-2). God led Joseph (and Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh), and manifested himself “between the cherubim” (of the Ark of the Covenant). Past blessings offer confidence to cry to the Lord to save us now. Notice that this appeal appears three times (vv. 3, 7, 19) and has three parts: a plea for restoration–“Restore us”; the means of that restoration–“cause Your face to shine”; and the outcome of restoration–“come and save us.”

Listen to this Psalm

Sing a New Song album art Hear, O Hear Us, Israel's Shepherd (Psalm 80B)
The Book of Psalms for Singing | Sing a New Song