You have made us a source of contention to our neighbors,
and our enemies mock us. - Psalms 80:8 NIV
The later psalmists, those who came after David, sang a different song than that of David. Most of David's songs were personal and full of pleas for his personal safety or salvation. The later Psalms have to do primarily with the fate of Israel and often are bemoaning the fact that God has abandoned them to their enemies.
Why have you broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its grapes?
Boars from the forest ravage it
and the creatures of the field feed on it.
Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see!
Watch over this vine, the root your right hand has planted,
the son you have raised up for yourself. - Ps. 81:12-15 NIV
'Why?' they cry. 'Why have you abandoned us?' And then in the next breath, because they know the answer already, they sing God's answer to his people.
"But my people would not listen to me;
Israel would not submit to me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
to follow their own devices.
"If my people would but listen to me,
if Israel would follow my ways,
how quickly would I subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes! - Ps.81:11-14 NIV
God is not asking his people for the earth, moon, or stars. He is not asking for any thing that is impossible. He is asking only that Israel, and that includes his people today, would listen to him, that they would follow his ways. There is always hope. There was hope for Israel then, there is hope for Israel now. There is hope for us as well.
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