the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 4 of 5
Psalms 80:1-19
At the end of Psalms 79:1-13, Israel reminded God that they were the sheep of His pasture. Psalms 80:1-19 opens by calling on the "Shepherd of Israel". Like scattered lambs unable to find their way, the faithful cry: "Turn us again, O God!" (vv. 3, 7, 19). This work of restoration after the period of straying is part of the tender care of our good Shepherd (Psalms 23:3).
"Shine forth" (v. 1), the remnant plead in their distress. Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh were the tribes which under their banner followed immediately behind the ark, a type of Christ (Numbers 10:22-24).
From v. 12 on, the believers are astonished: why has God delivered over to pillage and fire the vine, Israel, which He had transported from Egypt, and planted with so much care? The LORD gives His reply in Isaiah 5:4 in the form of another question: why when I hoped that My vine would bring forth good grapes, has it produced wild grapes?
But by contrast with the vine of Israel, unfruitful despite all the work of the divine Husbandman, John 15:1-27 shows us the true Vine: Christ. He is introduced in v. 17 as the man of God’s right hand and the Son of man, this name which He so often gives Himself in the Gospels.
