The Diet of Discipline Text: Psalm 80:4-7
Introduction: When God Ignores You
We find ourselves in a peculiar situation as modern American Christians. We are accustomed to a certain kind of therapeutic faith, one that assumes God's primary job is to make us feel affirmed, comfortable, and immediately answered. We treat prayer like a customer service hotline, and if we are put on hold for too long, we begin to suspect there is a problem with the management. We think that if our prayers are sincere, and if our cause is righteous, then God is somehow obligated to give us a swift and favorable reply.
But the saints of old knew something that we have largely forgotten. They knew that God is not a cosmic vending machine. They knew that sometimes, for His own holy and inscrutable purposes, God not only delays His answer, but seems to be actively angry with the very prayers of His people. This is a hard providence. It is one thing to be ignored by God when you are in flagrant sin. It is another thing entirely to be on your knees, pleading for deliverance, and to have the heavens turn to brass. It feels like God is not only refusing to help, but is angry that you even asked.
This is the situation Asaph describes in this section of Psalm 80. Israel is in a world of hurt. They are under divine judgment. And so, being under chastisement, they do what they are supposed to do, they pray. But there is a terrible catch. Because they are under chastisement, God is angry with their prayers. This is the lament of a people who are being disciplined by their Father, and the discipline includes a severe mercy, the mercy of a deaf ear. It is a terrible place to be, but it is not a hopeless one. For in the very structure of this lament, we see the first glimmers of the gospel. The cry itself, though seemingly unheard, is evidence that God has not abandoned them entirely. A son who can still cry out to his father is still a son.
This psalm teaches us how to pray when it feels like God is fighting us. It teaches us about the nature of corporate sin, covenantal discipline, and the ultimate foundation of our hope. Our hope is not in the sincerity of our prayers, but in the steadfast love of the God who sometimes, for our own good, refuses to listen to them.
The Text
O Yahweh God of hosts, How long will You smolder against the prayer of Your people?
You have fed them with the bread of tears, And You have made them to drink tears in large measure.
You set us as an object of strife to our neighbors, And our enemies mock us among themselves.
O God of hosts, restore us And cause Your face to shine upon us, that we might be saved.
(Psalm 80:4-7 LSB)
Smoldering Prayer (v. 4)
The lament begins with a direct and agonizing question to God.
"O Yahweh God of hosts, How long will You smolder against the prayer of Your people?" (Psalm 80:4)
Notice the formality and force of the address. "O Yahweh God of hosts." This is not a casual complaint. This is a covenantal appeal. Yahweh is the personal, covenant-keeping name of God. God of hosts, or God of armies, is a title that invokes His omnipotence. The psalmist is saying, "You are our covenant God, and You are the commander of all the armies of heaven. You have the power and the promise. So why are you treating our prayers like an enemy provocation?"
The word "smolder" is a powerful image. It suggests a slow, burning, persistent anger. It is not a flash of temper, but a deep and settled displeasure. And what is the object of this displeasure? Not their sin, explicitly, but "the prayer of Your people." This is the heart of the problem. When you are in trouble, prayer is your only lifeline. But what do you do when God seems angry at the lifeline itself? This is a profound spiritual crisis. It feels as though the very means of grace has become a means of condemnation.
Why would God be angry with the prayers of His people? The Bible gives us several reasons. He can be angry when prayer is offered hypocritically, from a heart that has no intention of repenting (Is. 1:15). He can be angry when prayer is a substitute for obedience. But here, the context suggests something deeper. The problem is not that they are praying, but that they are praying under discipline. The discipline has not yet accomplished its full sanctifying work. Their hearts are not yet fully turned. God's anger at their prayer is a part of the chastisement itself, designed to drive them from a superficial repentance to a deep and lasting one. He is teaching them that they cannot simply "pray their way out" of the consequences of their sin without dealing with the sin itself. The fire of His discipline must burn away the dross, and that includes the dross in their prayers.
A Diet of Tears (v. 5)
The psalmist then describes the tangible results of God's displeasure. It is a life saturated with sorrow.
"You have fed them with the bread of tears, And You have made them to drink tears in large measure." (Psalm 80:5 LSB)
This is covenantal language. God had promised to feed His people with bread from heaven, with manna in the wilderness. He had promised them a land flowing with milk and honey. But because of their disobedience, their covenant diet has been changed. The sustenance God now provides is their own sorrow. Their bread is made from tears. Their drink is tears, and not just a sip, but "in large measure," a full bowl. This is a picture of overwhelming, all-consuming grief.
And notice who is doing the feeding. "You have fed them... You have made them to drink." Asaph does not attribute this suffering to fate, or to the Babylonians, or to bad luck. He sees the hand of God directly in their affliction. This is a mark of true spiritual maturity. It is easy to see God's hand in blessing, but it takes faith to see His sovereign, disciplinary hand in suffering. This is not a capricious God; this is a Father who is lovingly, though painfully, correcting His children. The tears are not pointless. They are a form of medicine. They are meant to soften the heart, to wash away pride, and to create a desperate thirst for the true bread from heaven and the true living water.
Public Humiliation (v. 6)
The discipline is not just internal; it is a public spectacle that brings shame upon God's people.
"You set us as an object of strife to our neighbors, And our enemies mock us among themselves." (Psalm 80:6 LSB)
God had promised that if Israel was obedient, He would set them high above all nations (Deut. 28:1). But because of their sin, He has done the opposite. He has made them an "object of strife." The surrounding nations now fight over the scraps of Israel, like dogs over a bone. The people of God, who were meant to be a city on a hill, a light to the Gentiles, have become a political football, a source of contention and plunder.
Worse than the strife is the mockery. "Our enemies mock us among themselves." The shame of God's people becomes the entertainment of the wicked. They see Israel's plight and conclude that Israel's God is either powerless or faithless. This is the deepest cut of all. The discipline of God's people becomes an occasion for God's name to be blasphemed among the heathen (cf. Romans 2:24). The enemies mock, and their mockery is really aimed at Yahweh. They are saying, "Look at this great God of Israel. He can't even protect His own people. Some shepherd He is." This public humiliation is designed to show Israel the gravity of their sin. Their sin does not just harm themselves; it brings reproach upon the name of the God with whom they are identified.
The Great Refrain (v. 7)
After this litany of woes, the psalmist returns to the central plea of the psalm, which functions as a refrain.
"O God of hosts, restore us And cause Your face to shine upon us, that we might be saved." (Psalm 80:7 LSB)
This is the second time this refrain appears (see v. 3), and it will appear a third time at the end (v. 19). With each repetition, the name used for God intensifies, showing their growing desperation and earnestness. Here it is "God of hosts." This refrain contains the essence of the gospel.
First, look at the plea: "restore us." The Hebrew word means "turn us back" or "cause us to repent." The psalmist understands that the root of the problem is not their external circumstances, but their internal spiritual state. They have turned away from God, and they know they do not have the power in themselves to turn back. Repentance is not something we conjure up on our own. It is a gift of grace. Asaph is praying, "God, do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Turn us, and then we shall be turned" (cf. Lam. 5:21). This is a prayer of utter dependence.
Second, look at the basis for salvation: "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 thee, and be gracious unto thee." The shining face of God is the ultimate picture of divine favor, blessing, and fellowship. When God's face is turned toward His people, they have life and peace. When His face is turned away in judgment, they have tears and strife. The psalmist knows that their salvation does not depend on their military strength or their political savvy. It depends entirely on the gracious disposition of God. If God will just turn His face toward them again, all will be well.
And what is the result? "That we might be saved." Salvation, in its fullest sense, is found in the presence and favor of God. To be saved is to have God's face shining upon you. This is what every human heart was made for. And this is precisely what we have been given in the gospel. For as the apostle Paul says, God "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). The shining face of God is no longer an abstract hope; it has a name. It is the face of Jesus. In Christ, God has turned His face toward us forever. He has restored us. He has saved us. The prayer of this psalm finds its ultimate and final "Amen" at the cross of Calvary.