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A PRAYER FOR US ALL (Psalm 80)

So many of these psalms open up once you recognize the historical connections — how it fit in at a time in history with a specific king or prophet. Psalm 80 is without a doubt one of those psalms because it has been connected to the Babylonian captivity, to a people who have been carried away and are dealing with the judgment of God while wanting desperately to return to their land.

There is a key prayer in Psalm 80, and it is found three times.

Verse 3: “Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.”

Verse 7: “Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.”

Verse 19: “Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.”

It is one of the most powerful prayers in Scripture. It is a revival prayer.

First of all, it is a prayer for God to turn us again.

There is a turning we do, a returning to the Lord, but there is also a turning He does in us.

God is the great initiator. The truth of the matter is that no one ever seeks after God. But when He begins to turn our hearts, we return to Him in response to His work in us.

Perhaps your heart is somewhat cold and callous today. Cry out to the Lord and say, “Turn me again, O God.” Or, if you know of someone about whom you are burdened for salvation or who is a prodigal, you can pray it on his or her behalf.

I love that word “again.” There is such hopefulness in it. God has done it before, and He can do it again.

Then there is the phrase, “cause thy face to shine.” It is the prayer of someone who was going in the wrong direction and could not see God’s face, but when the Lord turned him they were face to face. God is always facing us; He never turns away. It is when we are going in the right direction that we can see His countenance.

You have to love the final part of this prayer: “… and we shall be saved.” The only hope we have is if He turns us. I am reminded of the words of Philippians 2:13. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

Wherever you are, start there and say, “Lord, turn my heart. Turn my mind and my desires back to you.”It doesn’t matter where you are at this moment. It is a prayer God answered during the time this psalm was written, and He will answer it today for us.

Remember that Psalm 80 is connected to the Babylonian captivity? A parallel verse can be found in Lamentations 5:21. “Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.”

If you want freshness, new life, and blessing again, pray for the Lord to turn you back toward Him. When God starts to turn you, shakes you up, and gets you out of your rut, everything changes.

Psalm 80 is amazing; it is all about God.

Verses 1-7 show us the shepherd and the sheep. Verse 1 begins, “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock.” The previous psalm ends with us being the sheep of His pasture, and this one has begun the very same way. He is the shepherd who is always turning the heart of a wandering sheep back to Himself.

Verses 8-16 show us the husbandman and the vine. Why would He use the example of a vine? Because it is always changing, and if it is going to be fruitful, it will be clinging, always dependent so that He can work in it.

The psalm ends, in verses 17-19, with the king and his people. The shepherd brings the sheep home; the husbandman purges and prunes the vine so it can make more fruit; and the king leads his people.

Do you hear the heart cry of this psalm? “Lord, we cannot do anything on our own. We are nothing and we have nothing. But we have You, and we need You. Will you help us now?”

Notice that there was a minor difference in each of the three prayers in this psalm, with a different name used for the Lord. It was “God” in verse 3, “God of hosts” in verse 7, and “Lord God of hosts” in verse 19.

The first one is simple. It is an acknowledgment of His person.

The second one leads the angel army and the host of Heaven, the One who all of the earth comes to in the end. It is an acknowledgment of His power.

The third one includes Yahweh, the covenant name for God - the LORD. He made a covenant with Abraham in the beginning, and He always kept His word. This is an acknowledgment of His promises.

No matter where you are today, if you will acknowledge God’s person, power, and promises, He will begin to turn your heart back to Him. This is what we all desperately need. We are commanded to repent, but repentance is not only divinely commanded; it is divinely aided, as we obey Him and respond to His revelation of Himself.

Psalm 80 is one of a handful of psalms with a very unique title. It is Shoshannimeduth, which means “lilies.” How does this fit in with the Babylonian captivity? It fits because the Lord is the lily of the valley.

In the valley, the lily grows. In the captivity, God was at work. In the difficulty, the Lord is working to bring all of us back to Himself, and nearer to Him than we have ever been before.

Make Psalm 80 your prayer for revival and renewal. “Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.”