Psalms 80:3

Psalms 80:3-19, “Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves. Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her? The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.”

Psalms 80 continues on the same topic that the last several Psalms talked about, the theme of God’s chastisement on the nation of Israel. The important phrase to notice in Psalms 80 is the phrase, “turn us again.”

How weak and sinful man is. Even a person who tries and intends and desires to do what is right will fail. They will fail because of the weakness of the flesh. They will fail without the strength of the Lord to enable them.

The phrase, “turn us again” means to draw, to recover, to restore, to bring back to the starting point.

Israel started out as a nation that followed the Lord. He brought them out of Egypt, gave them the law, led them through the wilderness and into the promised land. But then they fell away. This same story has happened to many people. There have been many who have turned to Jesus for forgiveness of their sins, submitted their lives and their wills unto God but for one reason or another have fallen away from serving Jesus.

It is not enough that a person desires to do what is right because the flesh is weak. A person needs the enabling of the Spirit of God, a person needs to feed on the word of God to be strong. How dependant we are on the Lord. How easily we leave our first love. How easily we forget the great things that God has done for us. We need God to turn us again to bring us again to that place on our knees where we first were thankful for salvation and forgiveness of sins that we received in Jesus.

Every day our hearts need revival, every day our hearts need a renewal of our love for Jesus. How easy it is to fall away. How dependant we are on His power and His strength.
“Turn us again, O God.”

Psalms 81:1-6, “To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of Asaph. Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.

I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.”

These verses are talking how God wanted the children of Israel to remember how He had redeemed them from their slavery in Egypt and to give God thanks for that redemption. God’s deliverance of the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt is symbolic of salvation.

Just like the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt all men are slaves to sin until Christ comes to them and touches a persons’ heart and that person repents of their sins and believes on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then that person is redeemed from the power of sin. As the years go by it can be easy for a person to forget what Christ has done for them, to become unthankful of the great work of Jesus on the cross.

We are told even in the New Testament to remember. Ephesians 2:11-13, “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”

It is very important to remember what Christ has done for you. It is very important to remember how you were once a slave to sin and were freed through the power of Christ. If you remember and are thankful you will never fall away from your love for God and you will never fall away from serving Him.

Psalms 81:7, “Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

We are told three very interesting things in this verse. First we are reminded of God’s deliverance to those who call upon Him. Then secondly God said that He, “answered thee in the secret place of thunder.”

Thunder is something that symbolizes God’s power and presence. This phrase could possibly be a reference to the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. The giving of the law to Moses is one of the great events of human history. The glory of God descended upon Mount Sinai in cloud and God spake to Moses with an audible voice.

When we think of the law we primarily think of the Ten Commandments but there were actually many more commandments. The law was a great gift of God to man, a great revelation of God’s truth, the standard for righteousness, and the opportunity to learn just how sinful we are and just how Holy God is.

Thirdly in this verse God says, “I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.” The word Meribah means strife. What happened at the waters of Meribah is recorded for us in Exodus chapter 17. Here God had Moses strike a rock and water gushed forth for the children of Israel. This event is meant to be a picture of salvation.

All three of the phrases in this verse really describe for us important details about salvation. Psalms 81:7, “Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

When a person cries out to God to be delivered from their sins He always answers that prayer of deliverance with great power. The power of salvation is the power of eternal life it is the power of going from being dead spiritual to being alive spiritual.

This is why Jesus said in John 7:38, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”

A person who is dead spiritual is like a rock in a desert where there is no water and no life. But the power of God through the blood of Jesus Christ can break open their rock hard heart and fill them with the waters of the Spirit of God.

Psalms 81:8-9 says, “Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me; There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.”

Man was created for the purpose of worshiping God. Man has a natural desire and need to worship something. If you do not worship God then you will worship something else. Someone people worship themselves, some people worship other people. Some people worship animals or some other part of God’s creation. Some people worship imaginary gods.

One of the great commandants of the Bible which is actually one of the ten commandments is Exodus 20:3, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

There is only one God, Jesus Christ. He is the King of Kings. He is the almighty all powerful all loving Holy God who is full of majesty and glory and who suffered and died on the cross for your sins. No one else, and nothing else deserves worship.

The greatest commandment in the Bible Jesus said is Deuteronomy 6:5, “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”Any time that we fail to love God the way that we should in our hearts we fall into idolatry.

Psalms 81:10-16 says, “I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels. Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.”

Once again God reminded Israel how he had redeemed them from slavery. But Israel chose not to listen to the Lord. Israel chose not to follow the Lord. And so as these verses say God gave them up and let them go their own way and walk after their own counsels and therefore they reaped what they sowed.

But O the things God would have done for them, the wisdom and the council He would have given them and the ways in which He would have blessed them. The story of the children of Israel is a story repeated over and over by lives in this world.

God sent His Son Jesus. John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Yes, God sent His son Jesus to redeem us out of the slavery of our sins. And for those who turn to Him He will guide and He will council and He will feed with honey out of the rock.

Psalms 82:1-8, “A Psalm of Asaph. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.”

One of the great failures of the governments of this world is to help those in need. Of course it should be remembered that governments are only as good as the men and women in the various levels of power which run them. Most people that end up in positions of power are people who seek after power. They find some way to convince people with their words to give them power or they take power by force or through manipulation and deceit. They are after power and wealth. So of course the policies and laws they implement are going to be oriented towards making themselves richer and more powerful.

It is very rare to get a leader who cares about the people. It can happen if God allows it. This is why one of the great hopes of the future for mankind is the day that Jesus rules the earth. Jesus will be a just King. He will rule with complete power and authority and he will care about the poor and the needy.

Psalms 83:1-18, “A Song or Psalm of Asaph. Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah. Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison: Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth. Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna: Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD. Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.”

The nation of Israel had many enemies. Why did they have so many enemies? One thing to understand about politics is that a nation will always have enemies. There will always be competition between nations to see who is the most powerful. But the reason that Israel had so many enemies is because they were the people of God.

The principle is the same principle as for the individual child of God. Jesus said in John 15:18, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”

The reason for the hatred has to do with spiritual darkness. Those who are in spiritual darkness will hate righteousness and truth. Therefore they will hate you and they will hate your nation if your nation serves God. Most of those in this world who have power get their power from the devil. And they will use that power to oppose God.

This is one of the reason the United States of America has many enemies. It is the Christianity of America that is hated. One of the great mistakes of those who have run the government of America over the years is not understanding that your enemies are your enemies. Giving massive amounts of money to someone who is your enemy will not cause them to stop being your enemy. Of course they will take the money but they will still continue to oppose you in any way that they can.

Of course sometimes a country’s worst enemies are not other nations but are those within the country itself sometimes even those who run the government. In a country like America it is possible to elect those into office who hate traditional America. The main reason they would hate traditional America is because of the spiritual darkness of their own hearts. They hate God and so they hate Christianity and they will do everything in their power to destroy it. To do this they will take away freedom in any way that they can. One way they do this is through government rules and regulations another way is through pushing government services such as socialized health care. Another way they do this is under the guise of national security. In other words by passing laws and growing the power of the government they increase their ability to control freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Freedom is something that has to be guarded with vigilance in this world. Many countries in the world do not have freedom. But no one understands freedom like a Christians does. Christians understand that man is created in the image of God, that all men are equal, and that God has given man a free will. It is principles like these which have made America a country of great freedom. But that freedom is always under attack. And the more America falls away from truth the more it will fall away from freedom.

If you do not know the truth then you can seek the truth today. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Turn to Him today and find forgiveness for your sins.

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