Please read Psalm 80 (19 verses)

If the Lord does not hear us, there is no one to shepherd us. The psalmist calls on the God of the cherubim to come and save His nation, the people of His possession. The writer seeks restoration and the acceptance of God in the form of salvation. The people of God have suffered greatly and shed many tears and shouldered many sufferings at the hand of the Lord, because of His anger towards them. The Lord has given them tears by the bottle full and the people eat the very bread of tears. Enemies treat them with derision because of their sin. God brought them out of Egypt and planted them as a vine in the promised land, which filled the whole land and prospered. The whole earth was blessed by the influence of this vine and it sheltered many under its good branches.

But now the walls have broken down and strangers are permitted to pick its grapes and desecrate its holy position. God has removed His protection and allowed His vineyard to be ravaged by those who hate His people, using them as a deep chastisement to His flock. Animals ravage it and even insects thrive on its fruit to the detriment of the vine. The psalmist calls on God to look from heaven and see what is happening and how His vine is being desecrated and even burned with fire. The rebuke of the voice of the Lord has brought this desolation and the writer asks God to look again and save His people.

The psalmist asks God to look to the man at His right hand, even Jesus, the only righteous one, the second person in the Holy trinity of God. He is the Saviour of His people and the only one who can put things right and stay the hand of trouble on the vine of the Lord. The Lord Jesus has been raised up as the Saviour and He must save His people or they will die. Only the substitutional death of Christ on the cross, is able to fix this gulf between God and His people and purchase forgiveness for them. This makes Him the only Saviour and the only one who is willing and able to save us. The psalmist asks God to deliver them, so that they can again praise the name of the Lord. May the face of the Lord shine on us again in great blessing that we will be saved.