Psalm 23

"May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

{Number 27:16,17} (NIV 1984) 

Moses was a shepherd for 40 years in Midian, faithfully tended his father-in-law’s flocks, leading them out to pasture and then back into the fold. Here he is at the end of the 40 years of leading the people of Israel around the wilderness, and he asks God to provide a “shepherd” for them. The “shepherd” will be a man, who will lead God’s people out and lead them in. He will do this on God’s behalf, appointed by God Himself. 

We love to wander, to graze here and graze there, to seek our own way, and do our own thing, when and where we want to do it. But a community needs a shepherd, a man appointed by God to take us out and bring us in together. Without a shepherd appointed by God, the community will disintegrate.