The Great Shepherd
God’s discipline should not be taken lightly by believers that continue to willfully sin (Heb 12:5-6). God disciplines His people out of His love for them (Heb 12:7). God’s discipline is for our good, so that we may be more Christlike (Heb 12:10-11). In Psalm 80 we read about the aftermath of God’s disciplining of Israel in 722 BC using the Assyrians. Here we see a great prayer of the psalmist for restoration on behalf of a sorrowful and repentant people.
The psalmist begins with a cry to the Great Shepherd to see the plight of His people and come and deliver them from their plight. He prays for God’s grace and restoration (80:1-3). Brethren, when responding to God’s discipline, humility before the God “enthroned above the Cherubim” is the first step on the road to restoration.
Brethren, restoration involves recognizing that it is God that has brought this calamity upon His people because of their idolatry (80:4-6). Their suffering, sorrow, and shame are great. In Isaiah 9-10 the Lord tells Israel that His patience with their idolatry and disobedience is at an end.
The time of judgement/discipline is at hand, and the instrument is the nation of Assyria. Brethren, it is a good thing that God will not let His people indulge in idolatry and sin.
Restoration involves looking back on grace of the Lord in the past (80:8-14). The psalmist, using a vine as a picture of Israel, looks back on the great blessings of God. He laments that God has removed His hedge of protection (80:12-13). The psalmist, moved by Israels’s plight, cries out to the Lord to see their hardship and intervene. The psalmist, says Israel has learned it lesson, and in repentance promises to remain loyal to the LORD and worship Him faithfully (80:17-19).