Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States - Lutheran Seminary's God Pause "Moved by the Promise" for Tuesday, 25 November 2014 - Scripture: Psalm 80

Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States - Lutheran Seminary's God Pause "Moved by the Promise" for Tuesday, 25 November 2014 - Scripture: Psalm 80: An Asaph Psalm
1-2 Listen, Shepherd, Israel’s Shepherd—
    get all your Joseph sheep together.
Throw beams of light
    from your dazzling throne
So Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh
    can see where they’re going.
Get out of bed—you’ve slept long enough!
    Come on the run before it’s too late.
3 God, come back!
    Smile your blessing smile:
    That will be our salvation.
4-6 God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    how long will you smolder like a sleeping volcano
    while your people call for fire and brimstone?
You put us on a diet of tears,
    bucket after bucket of salty tears to drink.
You make us look ridiculous to our friends;
    our enemies poke fun day after day.
7 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, come back!
    Smile your blessing smile:
        That will be our salvation.
8-18 Remember how you brought a young vine from Egypt,
    cleared out the brambles and briers
    and planted your very own vineyard?
You prepared the good earth,
    you planted her roots deep;
    the vineyard filled the land.
Your vine soared high and shaded the mountains,
    even dwarfing the giant cedars.
Your vine ranged west to the Sea,
    east to the River.
So why do you no longer protect your vine?
    Trespassers pick its grapes at will;
Wild pigs crash through and crush it,
    and the mice nibble away at what’s left.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies, turn our way!
    Take a good look at what’s happened
    and attend to this vine.
Care for what you once tenderly planted—
    the vine you raised from a shoot.
And those who dared to set it on fire—
    give them a look that will kill!
Then take the hand of your once-favorite child,
    the child you raised to adulthood.
We will never turn our back on you;
    breathe life into our lungs so we can shout your name!
19 God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, come back!
    Smile your blessing smile:
    That will be our salvation.(The Message)
It is good to negotiate from a position of strength. The opposite seems to be the situation we encounter in these verses from Psalm 80, however. The words would seem to suggest much more that of a Keebler elf versus Godzilla, of putting the cart before the horse.
The psalmist seems to say "Listen up, God! Come on down! And oh, by the way, quit making us laughing-stocks through your delay!" And just when we might think the psalmist can't get much more "in God's face," we hear more words to this effect: "And once you've bailed us out, then we'll never turn from you. Give us life, then we will call on your name."
But then we might recall after all ... we are in the days just before Advent, so ... before we prepare the way of the Lord—before we prepare for his once and future coming, I guess we need to prepare ourselves. We need to face the fact that no matter how many times we claim we'll never turn from God, it doesn't take long to stray.
Good and gracious God, be patient with us, even when we pretend we can set the terms for your intervention in our lives. Forgive us, prepare us, deliver us—all under the umbrella of your gracious will. Amen.
Keith Muschinske
Chaplain, United States Air Force (retired)
Eagle River, Alaska 
Master of Divinity , 1989
Psalm 80:1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
2 before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come to save us!
3 Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
4 O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6 You make us the scorn of our neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself.
18 Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name.
19 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.(New Revised Standard Version)
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