Psalm 81:1-10 “For the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath. By Asaph. Sing aloud to God, our strength! Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob! Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine, the pleasant lyre with the harp. Blow the trumpet at the New Moon, at the full moon, on our feast day. For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. He appointed it in Joseph for a covenant, when he went out over the land of Egypt, I heard a language that I didn’t know. ‘I removed his shoulder from the burden. His hands were freed from the basket. You called in trouble, and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah.’ Selah. ‘Hear, my people, and I will testify to you, Israel, if you would listen to me! There shall be no strange god in you, neither shall you worship any foreign god. I am the LORD, your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.’ “

God is to be praised! Even when He has hard words for His people (as we’ll see later), He is still glorious and magnificent. He called the Israelites, gave them His law, and brought them out of slavery. Who else should they worship?!?!?! Who else should they follow?!?!?!?! Yet we have a hint of how they continually tried God’s patience, which is taken up in the rest of the Psalm.

Exodus 17:7 “He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because the children of Israel quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, ‘Is the LORD amongst us, or not?’ ”

If we know Jesus, and believe that He’s set us free from the penalty of sin and death, how can we not worship God?

For additional worship: Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee (Reawaken Hymns)

Psalm 80:14-19 “Turn again, we beg you, God of Armies. Look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vine, the stock which your right hand planted, the branch that you made strong for yourself. It’s burnt with fire. It’s cut down. They perish at your rebuke. Let your hand be on the man of your right hand, on the son of man whom you made strong for yourself. So we will not turn away from you. Revive us, and we will call on your name. Turn us again, LORD God of Armies. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.”

Israel is frequently likened to a vine or a vineyard in the Old Testament. God is the vinedresser or the owner. He is sovereign, and their repentance, salvation, and future as His right hand is entirely at His discretion.

Jesus uses a similar metaphor to describe the Christian life. Apart from Him we can do nothing!

John 15:5-7 “I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burnt. If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.”

For additional worship: To Thee Our God, We Fly (William Walsham How)

To thee, our God, we fly
for mercy and for grace;
O hear our lowly cry,
and hide not thou thy face.

Refrain:
O Lord, stretch forth thy mighty hand,
and guard and bless our fatherland.

Arise, O Lord of Hosts,
be jealous for thy name,
and drive from out our coasts
the sins that put to shame. [Refrain]

Thy best gifts from on high
in rich abundance pour,
that we may magnify
and praise thee more and more. [Refrain]

The powers ordained by thee
with heavenly wisdom bless;
may they thy servants be,
and rule in righteousness. [Refrain]

The Church of thy dear Son
inflame with love’s pure fire,
bind her once more in one,
with life and truth inspire. [Refrain]

The pastors of thy fold
with grace and power endue,
that faithful, pure, and bold,
they may be pastors true. [Refrain]

O let us love thy house,
and sanctify thy day,
bring unto thee our vows,
and loyal homage pay. [Refrain]

Give peace, Lord, in our time;
O let no foe draw nigh,
nor lawless deed of crime
insult thy majesty. [Refrain]

Though vile and worthless, still
thy people, Lord, are we;
and for our God we will
none other have but thee. [Refrain]

Psalm 80:7-13 “Turn us again, God of Armies. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved. You brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations, and planted it. You cleared the ground for it. It took deep root, and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shadow. Its boughs were like God’s cedars. It sent out its branches to the sea, its shoots to the River. Why have you broken down its walls, so that all those who pass by the way pluck it? The boar out of the wood ravages it. The wild animals of the field feed on it.”

Prayer for the day: “God, you’ve been gracious to us before. Please be gracious to us again!” But we also have a refrain here that is a magnificent recognition of our need and God’s sovereignty: “Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.”

For additional worship: Shine On Us – Phillips, Craig & Dean

Psalm 80:1-6 “For the Chief Musician. To the tune of ‘The Lilies of the Covenant.’ A Psalm by Asaph. Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit above the cherubim, shine out. Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up your might! Come to save us! Turn us again, God. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved. LORD God of Armies, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people? You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in large measure. You make us a source of contention to our neighbors. Our enemies laugh amongst themselves.”

God is sovereign, He rules over the angels, He is our shepherd, and He is the only one who can bestow blessing on His people. Even though we may deserve justice, He is ultimately the only one we can go to for mercy.

Hebrews 4:16 “Let’s therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for help in time of need.”

For additional worship: Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us (4Him)

Psalm 79:8-15 “Don’t hold the iniquities of our forefathers against us. Let your tender mercies speedily meet us, for we are in desperate need. Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake. Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Let it be known amongst the nations, before our eyes, that vengeance for your servants’ blood is being poured out. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you. According to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are sentenced to death. Pay back to our neighbors seven times into their bosom their reproach with which they have reproached you, Lord. So we, your people and sheep of your pasture, will give you thanks forever. We will praise you forever, to all generations.”

Our cry would be, “Don’t hold our past iniquities against us!” Of course, this is dependent on true repentance. If we are walking right with God then we’ll experience His presence, His love, His joy, and His peace. Our lives will be different, and people will notice. When we claim to be Christians and look exactly like the world others will question where our God is. We should want to love and serve Him so that we’ll experience His blessing, and then those who would disparage Him (and us) will be put to shame.

For additional worship: Stand By Me – Charles Albert Tindley (Melissa Schworer)

Psalm 79:1-7 “A Psalm by Asaph. God, the nations have come into your inheritance. They have defiled your holy temple. They have laid Jerusalem in heaps. They have given the dead bodies of your servants to be food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your saints to the animals of the earth. They have shed their blood like water around Jerusalem. There was no one to bury them. We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and derision to those who are around us. How long, LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you, on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name, for they have devoured Jacob, and destroyed his homeland.”

One day His people will once again cry out, “How long, Lord?”

Revelation 6:9-11 “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had. They cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course.”

The reminder is, even when we long for God’s vengeance and vindication, He does it in His time, not ours!

For additional worship: Psalm 79 (Poor Bishop Hooper)

Psalm 78:65-72 “Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine. He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach. Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim, But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved. He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he has established forever. He also chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes that have their young, he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance. So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.”

God wasn’t really sleeping. It just seemed that way to those being disciplined! He was still working on behalf of His people, just not the way they expected. He chose David to lead them. Who better than a shepherd to shepherd His people? And what better way to describe Jesus than our shepherd?!?!?

John 10:11-18 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them. The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own; even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd. Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.”

For additional worship: Goodness, Love And Mercy (Chris Tomlin)

Psalm 78:56-64 “Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, and didn’t keep his testimonies, but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were twisted like a deceitful bow. For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images. When God heard this, he was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel, so that he abandoned the tent of Shiloh, the tent which he placed amongst men, and delivered his strength into captivity, his glory into the adversary’s hand. He also gave his people over to the sword, and was angry with his inheritance. Fire devoured their young men. Their virgins had no wedding song. Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows couldn’t weep.”

After all that God had done for them the Israelites still engaged in idolatry. They worshipped images of other “gods” and set up shrines for them in the hills. Talk about stupid! His commands to them started with:

Exodus 20:3-6 “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

God is still jealous for His glory today! And not following His commands is the same as saying we want something else more than we want a relationship with Him.

1 Corinthians 10:14 “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”

Colossians 3:5 “Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

For additional worship: God and God Alone (Chris Tomlin)

Psalm 78:52-55 “But he led out his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He led them safely, so that they weren’t afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, to this mountain, which his right hand had taken. He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.”

This should remind us of Psalm 23 and the promises that God has given to His children!

For additional worship: Psalm 23 (Phil Wickman)

Psalm 78:44-51 “he turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, so that they could not drink. He sent amongst them swarms of flies, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. He also gave their increase to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust. He destroyed their vines with hail, their sycamore fig trees with frost. He also gave over their livestock to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts. He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, and a band of angels of evil. He made a path for his anger. He didn’t spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence, and struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.”

God showed His love for Israel by bringing them out of Egypt and displaying His wrath against the Egyptians.

God shows His love for us by expending His wrath for our sin on Jesus and bringing us into His kingdom!

Romans 5:8-9 “But God commends his own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.”

James 2:5 “Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?”

For additional worship: In Christ Alone (Keith & Kristyn Getty)