Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
                  you who lead Joseph like a flock!
                  You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
    before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
                  Stir up your might,
                  and come to save us!
Restore us, O God;
                  let your face shine, that we may be saved.  

    O LORD God of hosts,
                  how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
    You have fed them with the bread of tears,
                  and given them tears to drink in full measure.
    You make us the scorn of our neighbors;
                  our enemies laugh among themselves.  

    Restore us, O God of hosts;
                  let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Psalm 80:1-7 

Psalm 80 is my cry for help in my warfare with Satan’s slaves who serve him in the brigades of secularism and Islam.

I cry out, “Stir up your strength!” God comforts me. I am weak, but he is strong. I am strengthened by his presence.

I cry out, “Restore me O God!” when I recognize that I have not been Christlike. I need to see his face, and I need him to rush in and prop me up. I can’t fight this battle by myself.

I cry out, “How long?” because I deserve his anger when I let fly words that hurt rather than heal. I wonder how long I will feel the separation that arises when my words serve Satan rather than Christ.

I eat the bread of tears, and I drink bowls of tears as I watch my country and my culture disintegrate under the onslaught of secularism and Islam. Secularists scorn me. Muslims hate me and everything I stand for. It is hard not to hate back.

I cry out, “Restore me, Lord of Hosts!” I need to see the face of Christ in the people I meet. I need to remember that I belong to Christ, and neither secularism nor Islam can do me eternal harm. I need to remember that Christ died for every person enslaved by the worldview of secularism and every person enslaved by the worldview of Islam. Their assaults on me are like the lashing of the tail of the great Dragon Satan as he swept stars out of the sky in his rage at his defeat by Christ on the cross.

My only righteousness is the righteousness imputed to me by God through Christ. When I fail to be Christ to other people, I have one recourse – to cry to God.