◄ Psalm 80:2 ►














Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
God's Strength Needed For Saving Work
Psalm 80:2
R. Tuck
Stir up thy strength, and come and save us. It is singular that three only of the twelve tribes should be mentioned; but the poet's mind was full of the wilderness associations, and he knew that these three tribes followed in the order of procession immediately behind the ark. So the shining forth of the glory is thought of as at once seen by them. "The writer prays that the brightness of the Shechinah, the light of God's countenance, thus manifested in old time 'before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,' may be once more vouchsafed as a sign of favour." The expression here used, "Stir up thy strength for our salvation," implies that all God's savings may be thought of as expenditures of the Divine strength - the strength of the Divine activity, the strength of the Divine wisdom, and the strength of the Divine love.

I. THE STRENGTH OF GOD'S ACTIVITY NEEDED FOR SAVING WORK. This is the point of the prayer of the psalmist. He wants God to show energy, to put forth energy, to bestir himself in order to do something for his people. The poetical thought is of God dormant, unconcerned with the trouble of his people. It is as if he would even awaken him to activity. The expression must be treated poetically. It brings out the idea that man needs God's active strength, since man asks his help only when he feels helpless. The saving needed is beyond man, so he has a high idea of the energy and the power that must be required.

"Twas great to speak a world from nought;
Twas greater to redeem." Apply to the redemption of the world from sin through our Lord Jesus Christ. What activity, energy, skill, and power were required for the great salvation!

II. THE STRENGTH OF GOD'S WISDOM NEEDED FOR SAVING WORK. The histories of the Old Testament abundantly illustrate the fact, that God's times and ways of saving are seldom such as man could have thought of. The wisdom of them was fully seen in their issues; but it was altogether beyond men, too strong for men to grasp and understand. How Israel was to be saved from Egypt, or Assign, or Babylon, men could not tell. It was done in the times of Moses, and of Hezekiah, and in the "Return," through the strength of the Divine wisdom, combined with the strength of Divine energy. Apply to the great salvation from sin. The Divine wisdom in it has been the marvel of the ages, and it is marvellous still, deeper than even an ocean line can reach. "The wisdom of God in a mystery."

III. THE STRENGTH OF GOD'S LOVE NEEDED FOR SAVING WORK. This leads into familiar ranges of thought. Our best deeds are done, and are best done, in the strength and inspiration of our love. And we are bidden to try and realize that love of God in human redemption, which is "beyond all manner of so much." - R.T.

Biblical Illustrator
Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Psalm 80:19
Divine greatness and Divine graciousness
Homilist.
I. DIVINE GREATNESS, "Lord God of hosts." What hosts are under Him? All the tribes of irrational life on this earth, all classes of men, all the stars of heaven, all the myriad systems of globes in space, all the innumerable armies of intelligent existences, both the happy and the miserable, He is Lord of all. How great is God! "To whom will ye liken Me? saith the Lord," etc.

II. DIVINE GRACIOUSNESS. "Cause Thy face to shine."

1. The enjoyment of God's graciousness requires a Divine change on man's part. "Turn us."(1) Some do not see God at all. "God is not in all their thoughts."(2) Some see His frown. Their guilty conscience invests Him with terrible attributes and covers His face with the frowns of indignant justice.(3) Some see His shining face. "Thy face" — beaming face; Such are they whom He has turned to Him, by repentance towards Him and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. The enjoyment of God's graciousness involves the realization of man's highest hopes, "And we shall be saved." What is that? We know what it meant to the author of this poem; but it means infinitely more to all human souls.

(Homilist.)

One antidote for many ills
This seems to be the only prayer the psalmist puts up in this psalm, as being of itself sufficient for the removal of all the ills over which he mourned. The reason is obvious. He had traced all the calamities to one source — "O Lord God, how long wilt Thou be angry?" and now he seeks refreshing from one fountain.

I. THE BENEFITS OF REVIVAL TO ANY CHURCH IN THE WORLD will be a lasting blessing. I do not mean that spurious kind of revival. I do not mean all that excitement attendant upon religion, which has brought men into a kind of spasmodic godliness, and translated them from sensible beings into such as could only rave about a religion they did not understand. I do not think that is a real and true revival. God's revivals, whilst they are attended with a great heat and warmth of piety, yet have with them knowledge as well as life, understanding as well as power. Among the blessings of the revival of Christians are —

1. The salvation of sinners. For this we must, and will, cry, "O Lord our God, visit Thy plantation, and pour out again upon us Thy mighty Spirit."

2. The promotion of true love and unanimity in its midst. Oh, if God gives us revival, we shall have perfect unanimity.

3. The mouths of the enemies of the truth are stopped.

4. The promotion of the glory of God. If we would honour God by the Church, we must have a warm Church, a burning Church, loving the truths it holds, and carrying them out in the life.

II. WHAT ARE THE MEANS OF REVIVAL? They are twofold. One is, "Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts"; and the other is, "Cause Thy face to shine." There can be no revival without both of these.

1. "Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts."(1) Your minister feels that he needs to be turned more thoroughly to the Lord his God.(2) But there are some of you who are workers in the Church. Large numbers are actively engaged for Christ. Now, what I exhort you to is this: cry unto God — "Turn us again, O God." You want more of the Spirit of God in all your labours.(3) "Turn us again" must be the prayer of all of you, not only in your religious labours, but in your daily lives.

2. The other means of revival is a precious one — "Cause Thy face to shine." Ah! we might ask of God, that we might all be devoted, all His servants, all prayerful, and all what we want to be; but it would never come without this second prayer being answered; and even if it did come without this, where would be the blessing? It is the causing of His face to shine on His Church that makes a Church flourish. A black cloud has swept over us, all we want is that the sun should come, and it shall sweep that cloud away. There have been direful things; but what of them, if God, our God, shall appear?

III. Come, now, let me stir you all up, all of you who love the Saviour, to SEEK AFTER THIS REVIVAL.

( C. H. Spurgeon.).

Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
Psalm 81
A revelation of three great subjects
Homilist.
I. TRUE WORSHIP (vers 1-5)

1. True worship is the highest happiness, which consists in —

(1)Right activity. Worthy of our nature. In harmony with all our faculties.

(2)The highest love.

(3)The sublimest hope.

2. True worship is a Divine ordinance, binding on all moral intelligences.

(1)Right in itself.

(2)Essential to their happiness.

II. DIVINE KINDNESS (vers. 6-10). This appears in —

1. Their deliverance from thraldom. God's mercy should inspire the soul with gratitude; and gratitude is an element of worship.

2. Answering their prayer.

3. Giving them direction.

III. HUMAN FOOLISHNESS (vers. 11-16). By disobedience they lost —

1. His superintending care.

2. Victory over enemies.

3. The choicest provisions. Disobedience to the Divine law is supreme folly. Sinners are fools. The Bible calls them so, and the experience of humanity proves them such.

(Homilist.)

Exhortation to sing God's praise
If you begin praising God you are bound to go on. The work engrosses the heart. It deepens and broadens like a rolling river. Praise is something like an avalanche, which may begin with a snowflake on the mountain moved by the wing of a bird, but that flake binds others to it and becomes a rolling ball: this rolling ball gathers more snow about it till it is huge, immense; it crashes through a forest; it thunders down into the valley; it buries a village under its stupendous mass. Thus praise may begin with the tear of gratitude; anon the bosom swells with love; thankfulness rises to a song; it breaks forth into a shout; it mounts up to join the everlasting hallelujahs which surround the throne of God. What a mercy is it that God by His Spirit will give us greater capacities by and by than we have here! for if we continue to learn more and more of the love of Christ we shall be driven to sore straits if confined within the narrow and drowsy framework of this mortal body.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

People
Asaph, Benjamin, Joseph, Manasseh, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Awake, Awaken, Benjamin, Deliverance, Ephraim, E'phraim, Manasseh, Manas'seh, Power, Salvation, Save, Sleep, Stir, Strength, Wake
Outline
1. The psalmist in his prayer complains of the miseries of the church
8. God's former favors are turned into judgments
14. He prays for deliverance

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 80:1-2

     5534   sleep, spiritual

Psalm 80:1-19

     8149   revival, nature of

Library
One Antidote for Many Ills
This morning's sermon, then will be especially addressed to my own church, on the absolute necessity of true religion in our midst, and of revival from all apathy and indifference. We may ask of God multitudes of other things, but amongst them all, let this be our chief prayer: "Lord, revive us; Lord, revive us!" We have uttered it in song; let me stir up your pure minds, by way of remembrance, to utter it in your secret prayers, and make it the daily aspiration of your souls. I feel, beloved, that …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

Dishonest Tenants
'And He began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. 2. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. 3. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. 4. And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Blessing of God.
NUMB. VI. 22-27. We have already seen the grace of GOD making provision that His people, who had lost the privilege of priestly service, might draw near to Him by Nazarite separation and consecration. And not as the offence was the free gift: those who had forfeited the privilege of priestly service were the males only, but women and even children might be Nazarites; whosoever desired was free to come, and thus draw near to GOD. We now come to the concluding verses of Numb. vi, and see in them one …
James Hudson Taylor—Separation and Service

Period iii. The Critical Period: A. D. 140 to A. D. 200
The interval between the close of the post-apostolic age and the end of the second century, or from about 140 to 200, may be called the Critical Period of Ancient Christianity. In this period there grew up conceptions of Christianity which were felt by the Church, as a whole, to be fundamentally opposed to its essential spirit and to constitute a serious menace to the Christian faith as it had been commonly received. These conceptions, which grew up both alongside of, and within the Church, have …
Joseph Cullen Ayer Jr., Ph.D.—A Source Book for Ancient Church History

The Wicked Husbandmen.
"Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: and when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto …
William Arnot—The Parables of Our Lord

Discourse on the Good Shepherd.
(Jerusalem, December, a.d. 29.) ^D John X. 1-21. ^d 1 Verily, verily, I say to you [unto the parties whom he was addressing in the last section], He that entereth not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. [In this section Jesus proceeds to contrast his own care for humanity with that manifested by the Pharisees, who had just cast out the beggar. Old Testament prophecies were full of declarations that false shepherds would arise to …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Homiletical.
Twenty-four homilies on miscellaneous subjects, published under St. Basil's name, are generally accepted as genuine. They are conveniently classified as (i) Dogmatic and Exegetic, (ii) Moral, and (iii) Panegyric. To Class (i) will be referred III. In Illud, Attende tibi ipsi. VI. In Illud, Destruam horrea, etc. IX. In Illud, Quod Deus non est auctor malorum. XII. In principium Proverbiorum. XV. De Fide. XVI. In Illud, In principio erat Verbum. XXIV. Contra Sabellianos et Arium et Anomoeos. …
Basil—Basil: Letters and Select Works

Rules to be Observed in Singing of Psalms.
1. Beware of singing divine psalms for an ordinary recreation, as do men of impure spirits, who sing holy psalms intermingled with profane ballads: They are God's word: take them not in thy mouth in vain. 2. Remember to sing David's psalms with David's spirit (Matt. xxii. 43.) 3. Practise St. Paul's rule--"I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing with the understanding also." (1 Cor. xiv. 15.) 4. As you sing uncover your heads (1 Cor. xi. 4), and behave yourselves in comely reverence as in the …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Shepherd of Our Souls.
"I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep."--John x. 11. Our Lord here appropriates to Himself the title under which He had been foretold by the Prophets. "David My servant shall be king over them," says Almighty God by the mouth of Ezekiel: "and they all shall have one Shepherd." And in the book of Zechariah, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

Farewell Discourse to Disciples.
(Jerusalem. Evening Before the Crucifixion.) ^D John XIV.-XVI. ^d 1 Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me. [That one should betray him and one should deny him, that all should be offended, and that the Lord should depart, raised anxieties which Jesus here seeks to quiet. That they should go out as homeless wanderers without the presence of their Lord and be subjected to persecution, was also in their thoughts. But Jesus sustains their spirits by appealing to them to …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Barren Fig-Tree;
OR, THE DOOM AND DOWNFALL OF THE FRUITLESS PROFESSOR: SHOWING, THAT THE DAY OF GRACE MAY BE PAST WITH HIM LONG BEFORE HIS LIFE IS ENDED; THE SIGNS ALSO BY WHICH SUCH MISERABLE MORTALS MAY BE KNOWN. BY JOHN BUNYAN 'Who being dead, yet speaketh.'--Hebrews 11:4 London: Printed for J. Robinson, at the Golden Lion, in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1688. This Title has a broad Black Border. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. This solemn, searching, awful treatise, was published by Bunyan in 1682; but does not appear …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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