Psalm 80 Devotional

Turn Your Face Toward Us

“Restore us, O LORD God of Hosts; cause Your face to shine upon us, that we may be saved.”Psalm 80:19 (BSB)

Psalm 80 calls on God as the Shepherd of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, and asks him to rouse his power and save his people (80:1-2). They have been fed tears like bread, and their enemies laugh at them (80:5-6). Three times a refrain rises, each time with a fuller name for God: restore us, let your face shine on us, and we will be saved (80:3, 80:7, 80:19).

At the center is a picture. God brought a vine out of Egypt and planted it until it covered the mountains and reached to the sea (80:8-11). Now its walls are broken, passersby strip its fruit, and wild animals trample it (80:12-13). The people do not ask for a better gardener. They ask the God who planted the vine to come back and tend it (80:14-15). Jesus later called himself the true vine and his followers the branches (John 15:1-5). The hope for a damaged life is the same as for that vine: the God who planted it has not stopped caring for it.

To think about: What part of your life feels broken down, and what would it look like to ask God to turn his face toward you there?