God has seemingly turned God’s face away. So distant, so imperceptible is God’s presence that the psalmist concludes that God must be angry with Israel. Why else would God allow the fruit of the vine of Israel to be plucked by others while Israel is left with nothing but “the bread of tears” to eat and “bowls of tears” to drink? Why would God allow the vine to be ravaged by wild boars and burned with fire as though it were mere rubbish? Why would God allow this to happen to one in whom God has invested so much? No clear sin of Israel is evident to the psalmist that might provoke such anger.
Thus, the psalmist boldly calls upon God to “stir up your strength and come to help us.” Three times, while building upon God’s name each time, the psalmist cries, “Restore us, O (LORD) God (of hosts); let your face shine upon us, and we shall be saved.” God, after all, is the one who, in the past, brought this vine of Israel out of Egypt and planted it in new nourishing land. God tended to the vine with such care that by its great height, even mountains were covered by its shadow and towering cedar trees by its boughs! Surely God will not abandon but restore this vine that has been lovingly cultivated by God’s right hand.
Audacious hope is what I find most remarkable about this psalm. Surrounded by darkness due to the apparent turning away of God’s face, surrounded by questions of “Why?” and “How long?” that cannot receive satisfactory answers due to the lack of light, surrounded by the tears of loved ones and the scornful laughter of enemies, the psalmist is convinced that God can and will restore Israel. For even in the darkness, the Shepherd’s hand is upon them, leading them “like a flock.” Even now, they are “at [God’s] right hand.” Even now, the proclamation of God’s salvation is breaking into the dark surroundings through the psalmist. In anticipation of the fullness of this inbreaking, the psalmist declares, “we will never turn away from you.”
As we pray this psalm, our voices echo and reverberate the questions of “Why?” and “How long?” But with the psalmist, we also give voice to all that God has done and audaciously proclaim God’s salvation. Through that proclamation, God’s face is already shining upon you, already saving you, already restoring your vision to see the light in the darkness that cannot be overcome. Already, the scornful laughter of enemies is being turned into the joyous laughter of friends. The bread of tears you are eating is becoming the nourishing bread of heaven. The bowl of tears you are drinking is becoming the fruit from the vine that is tended by God’s right hand. “Being confident of this,” I declare to you that God “who began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6).