Doing the Work

Rebuilding your country is hard.

For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” A Psalm by Asaph.

Psalm 80

1 Hear us, Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock,
you who sit above the cherubim, shine out.
2 Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up your might!
Come to save us!
3 Turn us again, God.
Cause your face to shine,
and we will be saved

4 Yahweh God of Armies,
how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears,
and given them tears to drink in large measure.
6 You make us a source of contention to our neighbors.
Our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Turn us again, God of Armies.
Cause your face to shine,
and we will be saved.

8 You brought a vine out of Egypt.
You drove out the nations, and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it.
It took deep root, and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shadow.
Its boughs were like God’s cedars.
11 It sent out its branches to the sea,
its shoots to the River.
12 Why have you broken down its walls,
so that all those who pass by the way pluck it?
13 The boar out of the wood ravages it.
The wild animals of the field feed on it.
14 Turn again, we beg you, God of Armies.
Look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vine,
15 the stock which your right hand planted,
the branch that you made strong for yourself.
16 It’s burned with fire.
It’s cut down.
They perish at your rebuke.
17 Let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
on the son of man whom you made strong for yourself.
18 So we will not turn away from you.
Revive us, and we will call on your name.
19 Turn us again, Yahweh God of Armies.
Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.

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First I want to do a little language housekeeping here. God is called Yahweh in the original Hebrew. He is called Jehovah in many Bibles because that was a Latinized version of His name. The name of God was considered to be holy, so the Jews never spelled it out. They just used the consonants, YHWH. But the Latin translators added the vowels from Adonai, which means Lord, to make Jehovah. So Bible translations vary in how they refer to God. The Lord of Hosts is also translated as Lord Almighty and God of Armies. They all signify that God is the one of highest authority over all dominions in the world.

It seems obvious to me that this Psalm was written after the destruction of Jerusalem under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The psalmist is praying for restoration, and is reminding God that He had planted them in this land. What does not seem obvious is that he is owning that they deserve their troubles. He does ask God to restore them and turn them, which does seem to indicate that they had turned away from God. And now the psalmist pleads with God to turn them back and restore them.

In 70 years God would restore them, just as he promised He would. But it would be hard work. When they initially came into the Promised Land they took a land that was already planted with vineyards and fruit trees and they just took everything that was already growing on the land. This time they will have to start from the ground up. They will have to rebuild the walls of their Temple and then the city of Jerusalem. And they will face local opposition while they do it.

Here in America our walls are broken down. It seems that all common sense has been abandoned. We have many foreign Invaders who are displacing us. We have corrupt rulers who deny the God who blessed America. Her education system indoctrinates children with gender confusion and critical race theory. Our information sources are corrupt and driven by politics rather than the pursuit of truth. We sacrifice our unborn children and neuter our young. Worst of all, the church does not seem to be even interested in restoring America. We pray for Jesus to come so we can escape it.

At some point, Christ will return and this will all be over. Of course when He does He will be going scorched Earth everywhere around the globe. And it is only He who will be able to restore it. But we do not know when that time is. In the meantime, we still have orders. We were told to preach the gospel throughout the world and to make disciples and to teach them to obey Christ’s commands. We cannot get around that. We cannot just hope that the boss is going to show up and reward us for not doing our job.