In my previous blog, the one I wrote just prior to this, we looked at a passage from the Prophet Isaiah, where he likened the people of Israel to a vineyard that the Lord had planted. In today’s psalm, written by a man named Asaph, we see a similar comparison, where he pictures the people of Israel as a vine that God has planted. Let’s look into our psalm for this week.
As our psalm opens, Asaph is praying and calling out to God to come and save the people. The nation is in some type of crisis, perhaps due to attacks from their enemies. Asaph prayed that God would rouse Himself, and with His unlimited power and strength, come and rescue His people (vs. 1-2). He knew that the crisis the country was in was due to the sin and disobedience of the people (vs. 4). When we go against God’s ways, He is naturally not going to be happy with us. When we have unconfessed sin in our hearts, God cannot justly respond to our prayers (Psalm 66:18). Disobedience to God’s Word brings judgment, and throughout the nation of Israel’s history, God was compelled to bring just chastisement upon them. Asaph compared that to the nation being given bread made from tears to eat (vs. 5). He pictured the surrounding nations as laughing at Israel because of the difficulties they were going through, perhaps even being overrun by their enemies (vs. 6). When believers fall into sin, we can be sure that God’s enemies will be laughing.
Asaph then made the comparison of the nation of Israel to that of a vine, which is a common picture throughout Scripture (vs. 8-16). He pictured God bringing the vine out of Egypt, removing the pagan, idol-worshipping nations, and carefully planting it where it took root and flourished. However, then the hedges that had surrounded the vineyard had been broken down, and wild beasts had been allowed in to root up the vine, to devour and destroy it. The vineyard which God had planted had been broken down and burned. This is the same picture that the Prophet Isaiah gave in his parable of the vineyard, comparing the nation of Israel to a vine that God had planted, but which was then broken down because of their sins (Isaiah 5:1-7).
Both Asaph and Isaiah knew that this happened because of the people’s sins. The people had turned their back on God and had spurned His Word. They had made a mockery of all of His commandments, and also had turned to worshipping pagan idols. God cannot tolerate and bless sin, either back then, nor today. God will not turn a blind eye to sin today in His Church, either corporately, nor in individual believer’s lives.
Asaph knew this, which is why three times throughout this psalm he called upon the Lord God to restore His people (vs. 3, 7, 19). He prayed, “Restore us, O God; Cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved!”. This Scripture is a prayer for revival and restoration after the people had fallen away and experienced God’s judgment. When the people of God, today as well as back then, have fallen into sin, whether individually or as a whole, God cannot look upon them with a pleasant and smiling face. Before restoration can occur, one must repent and turn away from sin. Only then can we be restored to fellowship with the Lord.
Today the Church needs revival. So many have become complacent and careless to sin, believing that God is accepting and satisfied with their lives and anything they do. They do not believe that God judges anyone today, and that He is only a God of love and approval. The Church today, just like the people in Asaph’s day, needs to return to the Lord and to follow His Word. We do not want to become like the vine described in our psalm, uprooted and torn down, and trampled on by the enemy. Satan is doing a lot of trampling on the children of God today, and we need to return to the Lord so that His face will shine upon us once more.
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