The Turn That Saves: A Plea for Divine Intervention Text: Psalm 80:1-3
Introduction: When the Hedges Are Down
We come now to a psalm of national lament. This is not a private grief whispered in a corner; this is a corporate cry from a people who feel abandoned. The vine God planted has been ravaged. The hedges He built have been broken down, and now the wild boars of the forest are wasting it (Ps. 80:13). This is a psalm for a people whose national life, whose corporate identity, is in shambles. It is a psalm for a church that has compromised, for a nation that has forgotten its God. It is, therefore, a psalm for us.
We live in a time of great shaking. The cultural and spiritual hedges that once defined and protected our civilization are not just neglected; they are being systematically dismantled with enthusiastic glee. The boars are in the vineyard, and they are doing what boars do. And in the midst of this, the people of God are tempted to two equal and opposite errors. The first is to despair, to believe the ruin is final. The second is to engage in frantic activism, to believe that we can rebuild the hedges with our own political ingenuity and moral elbow grease.
This psalm rejects both errors. It is a cry of desperation, but it is not a cry of despair. It is a plea for action, but the action it pleads for is divine, not human. The psalmist, Asaph, understands a fundamental truth that our generation has forgotten: genuine restoration, true revival, is not something we work up. It is something God brings down. The central, repeated plea of this psalm is not "O God, help us restore ourselves," but rather, "O God, restore us." The turning we need is a turning He must grant. If we are to be saved, God must do the saving. If we are to be turned, God must do the turning.
In these first three verses, Asaph lays the foundation for his plea. He appeals to God based on His character, His past actions, and His covenant relationship with His people. He calls on the Shepherd of Israel to do what a shepherd does: to lead, to protect, and to save his flock. This is not a timid request. It is a bold, covenantal appeal, grounded in the knowledge of who God is.
The Text
O Shepherd of Israel, give ear, You who guide Joseph like a flock; You who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth!
Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up Your might And come to save us!
O God, restore us And cause Your face to shine upon us, that we would be saved.
(Psalm 80:1-3 LSB)
The Shepherd King (v. 1)
The psalm opens with a direct and intimate address to God:
"O Shepherd of Israel, give ear, You who guide Joseph like a flock; You who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth!" (Psalm 80:1)
Asaph begins by calling God the "Shepherd of Israel." This is a profoundly relational and covenantal title. A shepherd's job is to feed, guide, and protect his sheep. The sheep are utterly dependent on him for their very lives. By using this title, Asaph is reminding God of His chosen role and reminding the people of their utter dependency. We are not lions who can fend for ourselves; we are sheep, prone to wander and helpless against predators. Our only hope is the Shepherd. He specifically mentions God guiding "Joseph like a flock," which is a poignant historical reminder. Joseph was the one who led the family of Israel down into Egypt, and it was God, the true Shepherd, who led them out again through Moses, another shepherd. This is an appeal to God's track record. "You have done this before. Do it again."
But this Shepherd is not some rustic, pastoral figure. He is also the one "enthroned above the cherubim." This is a direct reference to the Ark of the Covenant, where the glory of God dwelt between the golden cherubim in the Holy of Holies. This is the throne of the universe. So we have a glorious paradox: the tender, guiding Shepherd is also the sovereign, enthroned King. He is not just loving; He is omnipotent. He is not just mighty; He is intimately involved. This is our God. He has both the heart of a shepherd to care and the power of a king to act. This is why Asaph can cry, "shine forth!" This is a plea for a theophany, a manifestation of God's glorious presence. When God's glory shines, the darkness cannot stand. When the King decides to act, no enemy can resist Him.
A Call for Covenantal Deliverance (v. 2)
The psalmist then specifies the audience for this divine intervention.
"Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up Your might And come to save us!" (Psalm 80:2 LSB)
Why these three tribes? Ephraim and Manasseh were the sons of Joseph, and Benjamin was Joseph's only full brother. These three tribes, descended from Rachel, marched directly behind the Ark of the Covenant in the wilderness (Numbers 2:17-24). They had the closest view of God's manifest presence leading them. Asaph is calling on God to re-enact the exodus and the wilderness journey. He is saying, "Remember how you led us then? Remember the tribes that followed your glory most closely? Stir up that same might again, in our sight, and come save us."
This is not just a nostalgic history lesson. It is a strategic, covenantal argument. He is appealing to God on the basis of His established patterns of salvation. Our God is a God who saves. It is His nature. It is His history. The prayer is essentially, "Lord, be who You are. Do what You do." This is a powerful way to pray. We are not coming to God with novel ideas for Him to consider. We are coming to Him, holding up His own resume, and asking Him to act consistently with His proven character. We are asking Him to come and save, because that is what He has always done for His people.
The Fundamental Prayer (v. 3)
Verse 3 contains the refrain that will be repeated and intensified throughout the psalm. It is the heart of the matter.
"O God, restore us And cause Your face to shine upon us, that we would be saved." (Psalm 80:3 LSB)
Here is the core issue. The problem is not ultimately the Babylonians or the Assyrians. The problem is not the boars in the vineyard. The problem is our estrangement from God. The root of all our troubles is that we have turned from Him. Therefore, the only solution is for Him to turn us back. The Hebrew for "restore us" can also be translated "turn us back." This is crucial. We do not have the ability in ourselves to turn back to God. Our repentance itself is a gift from Him. As Jeremiah would later pray, "Turn us back to You, O LORD, and we will be turned" (Lamentations 5:21). Salvation is not a matter of us getting our act together so that God will accept us. Salvation is God intervening in our mess to turn us around by His grace.
And what is the result of this divine turning? It is that God would "cause Your face to shine upon us." This is a direct echo of the Aaronic blessing from Numbers 6:25: "The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you." The shining face of God is the manifestation of His favor, His grace, His blessing, His presence. When God's face is turned toward His people, there is light, life, and salvation. When His face is turned away in judgment, there is darkness, death, and ruin. The psalmist understands that salvation is not an abstract legal status; it is a restored relationship with the living God. To be saved is to have God look upon you with favor. And this is only possible because of the one who is the very radiance of God's glory, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Gospel in the Psalm
This ancient plea finds its ultimate answer and fulfillment in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the great Shepherd of the sheep, who came to seek and to save that which was lost (Hebrews 13:20; Luke 19:10). He is the one who is not only enthroned above the cherubim but who tabernacled among us, allowing us to behold His glory (John 1:14).
The plea, "restore us," or "turn us," is answered at the cross. On the cross, God's face was turned away from His Son, so that it might forever be turned toward us. Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He endured the averted face of God so that we might experience the shining face of God. He took our judgment so that we might receive His grace.
And now, because of Christ's finished work, we can pray this psalm with full confidence. When our lives, our families, our churches, or our nation are in ruins, we know where to turn. We do not look to ourselves. We look to the Shepherd King. We plead with Him to do what only He can do: to turn us back to Himself. We ask Him to grant us the gift of repentance. And we ask Him to cause His face to shine upon us, not because we have earned it, but because Jesus has. For as the apostle Paul says, it is "God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' [who] has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). That is our only hope of salvation, and it is an absolutely certain one.