Psalms 80:1 - Meaning and Application

The psalmist speaks here for the whole church, praying to God because Israel is in a bitter and troubled state.

He asks God first for favor, because that is the greatest need when the sanctuary lies in ruins. He looks to God as the Shepherd of Israel, the one who once called them his sheep (Psalm 79:13). As sheep depend on the shepherd’s care and guidance, so Israel depended on God’s protection. Christ is the great and good Shepherd, and we can trust the sheep given to him to his care.

God also “dwells between the cherubim,” which means he is present in the place where he meets with his people and receives their prayers. The mercy seat stood between the cherubim, and prayer is deeply comforting when we remember we are coming before a throne of grace. That comfort exists because of the great atonement, the sacrifice that turns away God’s wrath and opens the way for mercy.

The psalmist asks God to hear their cries and to “shine forth,” meaning to show both his glory and his kindness to his people. He wants God to stir up his strength, to awake and act, as if his power had been sleeping. Since their cause was under heavy attack, he asks God to put forth his power and bring salvation.

He says this should happen “before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh,” the tribes of Israel. These three tribes likely stand for the whole nation, and perhaps they are named because they formed the camp division that followed next after the tabernacle in the wilderness. In that way, the ark of God’s strength would go before them and scatter their enemies.

The psalmist then complains that God seems displeased with them. He fears not only that God is angry with their sins, but that he is angry even with their prayers. It is not strange for God to be angry at the sins of his people, or at the prayers of his enemies, but it feels very painful when he seems angry with the prayers of his own people.

If God is truly angry at his people’s prayers, the problem is that they ask wrongly (James 4:3). They pray, but do not wrestle in prayer, or their hearts are not right. There may be hidden sin they are holding onto, or they may pray with anger and doubt. Sometimes, though, God only seems angry. He may be testing their patience and persistence, as he tested the woman of Canaan.

His anger has lasted a long time, and that weighs heavily on them. They ask, “How long will you be angry?” because they have kept praying, yet still live under God’s frown. The signs of that displeasure have brought them both sorrow and shame.

Their sorrow is deep, because God has fed them “with the bread of tears” (Psalm 80:5). They have lived from day to day in grief, as if tears were their daily food. They have been given tears to drink in large measure, not just a small taste of sorrow. Many people spend their lives in sorrow, yet will spend eternity in joy.

Their shame is just as real. By frowning on them, God has made them a source of contention to their neighbors (Psalm 80:6). Their enemies competed with one another to shame them, since they had become such an easy prey. Those enemies laughed among themselves at Israel’s fears, troubles, and failures. When God is displeased with his people, sorrow and enemy triumph often go together.

So the psalmist prays earnestly for turning grace, the grace that brings people back to God and prepares them for salvation: “Turn us again, O God” (Psalm 80:3), “Turn us again, O God of hosts” (Psalm 80:7), and then “cause your face to shine, and we shall be saved.” This is the repeated cry of the psalm, and it appears again later (Psalm 80:19). They know they have wandered from God and from duty, and that their own sin has brought his hiding of face and their enemies’ power.

They want to begin in the right place. First, they ask God to turn them in repentance and reform, and then they expect him to return in mercy and rescue. No one can be truly saved without God’s favor, and no one can enjoy that favor without being turned back to him. We must turn from the world and the flesh, and then God will make his face shine on us.

Even conversion itself comes by God’s grace. We must prepare our hearts to seek him, and still pray, “Turn me, and I shall be turned.” The psalm is a prayer for the nation as a whole, and it teaches us to pray in the same way for public mercy: that what is wrong may be corrected, and then the trouble will be eased. National holiness would secure national happiness.