“Please listen, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph’s descendants like a flock. O God, enthroned above the cherubim, display your radiant glory to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. Show us your mighty power. Come to rescue us! Turn us again to yourself, O God. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved. O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, how long will you be angry with our prayers? You have fed us with sorrow and made us drink tears by the bucketful. You have made us the scorn of neighboring nations. Our enemies treat us as a joke. Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven’s Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved. You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine; you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land. You cleared the ground for us, and we took root and filled the land. Our shade covered the mountains; our branches covered the mighty cedars. We spread our branches west to the Mediterranean Sea; our shoots spread east to the Euphrates River. But now, why have you broken down our walls so that all who pass by may steal our fruit? The wild boar from the forest devours it, and the wild animals feed on it. Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven’s Armies. Look down from heaven and see our plight. Take care of this grapevine that you yourself have planted, this son you have raised for yourself. For we are chopped up and burned by our enemies. May they perish at the sight of your frown. Strengthen the man you love, the son of your choice. Then we will never abandon you again. Revive us so we can call on your name once more. Turn us again to yourself, O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.”
Psalms 80:1-19 NLT
There is something to be said for the admittance of guilt mixed with the reliance upon God. For many, the is feat is merely a mental ascent but without the emotional weight necessary to make it a reality. They merely apologize to God about their wrong doings and explain their motivations. .here Asaph demonstrates true repentance. He doesn’t explain himself or Israel to God. Instead he admits and confesses what God already knows. He lays these things before God with a clear message that Israel has no excuse for its behavior. But he doesn’t just rest there. Instead he goes a step further and makes the faithful assertion that God still wants relationship. This is coupled with the idea that there is nothing that Israel can do which is deserving of that providence. He leaves the relationship in God’s hands. Even his expression of struggle is one that acknowledges its difficulty without blaming God for it. This is not an apology. It is asking for forgiveness. It is plainly stating the facts and placing the power for the relationship back into the hands of the wronged party. This is what God honors and prefers in confession and repentance.
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