80:1-2 As a faithful child of God, we have the right and privilege to access our Father's presence, strength, and rescue. The Psalmist prayed, and prayed specifically to a God whose character and history with humanity he learned. Know that our God was first a Shepherd of Israel, the leader of Joseph and exists now in our present as scripture's posterity.
80:3 They prayed for restoration; they prayed for the light of God; they prayed to be saved. God's process of restoration is always complete and complex and assured. He has a detailed plan for us when we request, and absorb, His leadership and instruction. God's light is the light; the light that identifies the righteous path while driving out the darkness of fear and sin and captivity. And when we are saved by God, we are made whole by Him. Whatever darkness or iniquity harmed us, He heals.
80:4-7 The tribes of Israel were tired of captivity; but they needed the period of captivity remember the blessing of freedom. Only when they needed Him, and realized how much He had done for them, did they remember God. Let us learn from their mistakes and include God in our entire life: sorrow and joy.
80:8-13 What God plants is strong and eternal. Except if it rejects Him. We are strong and eternal except when we reject God. The tribes of Israel asked God to visit them... but the only reason God was not already with them is because they left God. He never walks away from us.
It is important to have self-awareness. Their predicament was self-caused. God will help us through self-imposed and otherwise distresses but, especially when we are self-imposed predicaments, we must be able to perceive objectively and take responsibility for our contribution (perhaps lack of) to the situation.
80:14-18 It was not God who needed to return but His people. We are the ones who walk away. Yet because God is patient and merciful and compassionate, He does come. He answers our calls. He meets us in the places we call from.
80:19 Like the Psalmist, pray for revival. Restoration. Maintenance. Whatever manner in which your life needs God to respond. And promise the same: to never turn your back.
