- Psalms 80:15-19 And the vineyard which Your right hand has planted, and the branch that You made strong for Yourself. It is burned with fire, it is cut down; they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance. Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself. Then we will not turn back from You; revive us, and we will call upon Your name. Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved!
- Isaiah 5 talks about Israel as a vineyard that is in danger of being destroyed because it was not producing good fruit. In John 15, we are the branches and Jesus is the vine. We produce good fruit because of His life in us, and only because His life is in us. The only bad fruit producing branch is one that is not connected to a life-giving vine.
- The psalmist asks for reviving. He says that then they will call on God, but it works the other way around. They need to cry out to God for saving, and then He will respond.
- The psalmist says, “Cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved.” God’s face does shine. He comes behind the clouds to hide the light of His brightness. We need His face turned toward us. We need to forsake our sin, so the holy God isn’t forced to look away.
- Psalm 81 starts with commands to praise with joyful noise and music to the Lord. In Psalm 81 we hear the longing of the Lord. He wants to do His people good, but they refuse Him!
- Here is Psalm 81:11-14 But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes.
- Psalm 81 ends with a beautiful quote. This is what God offers those who submit to Him. This is the end of verse 16, “with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” Think of Psalm 19 comparing God’s word to sweet honey and Jesus being the rock. We could be satisfied with God’s word directly from Jesus. He would feed us, teach us, Himself if we would just submit to His ways and let Him be our teacher.
