Text: “You led your people like a flock/by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Psalm 77:20).

Context, Context, Context: Psalm 77 is a psalm of lamentation. It begins with a cry out to God: “I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me” (Ps 77:1).

That repetition in Hebrew poetry is important to note. He repeats the word “aloud” for emphasis. The cry is audible. It’s a cry of anguish. But the great encouragement that follows is that God hears and responds to the cries of his people.

As Francis Schaeffer wrote, God is there is he is not silent. God is personal. He relates to his creation and to his people in covenant faithfulness.

And how does God do that? By way of a shepherd. By way of a mediator.

The writer ends the 20 verses of the psalm this way: “You led your people like a flock/by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Ps 77:20).

That is so important. Why? Because it reminds the writer and the covenant people of God that God cares. And God provides shepherds. True shepherds will smell like the sheep. They’ll work themselves on behalf of the sheep. They’ll lay down their lives for the sheep. They’ll equip the sheep. They’ll guard the sheep from invaders. They’ll lead the sheep to the water of life.

Jesus, of course, is THE great shepherd, the ultimate shepherd. But God also calls fallen men who love and know the Lord to shepherd God’s people in the here and now.

The question is, do you have godly shepherds? Do you have a shepherd who is not there to be served but who serves? Sadly, we hear regularly of men who are in ministry not for the people but for self. They isolate themselves. They are not available to God’s people. They want benefits but evade hard work. Run from such people. Find the shepherds who pour themselves out for you–who serve you, equip you, visit you, pray with you, teach you, but most of all, who model the Good Shepherd himself.