Psalm 77:20 - August 5, 2009

Ps 77:20 "You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron." NIV

Does God have a plan for you? Is He actively involved in setting the course of your life? Based upon this passage and many others the answer would have to be yes! There are three topics addressed in this simple passage; God’s leading, how He does it and who He does it with. Though this passage does not completely develop any one of those concepts each one is certainly presented in its simplest form.
God is faithful to lead His people. Romans 12:1-2 tells us that how we know the will of God, how we discover this leading is to present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable. Paul teaches us that if we will do this then we will be able to “test and approve” the will of God for our lives. The will of God is not painted on a canvas like a picture to be interpreted. It is communicated by God’s Spirit to our Spirit through various means and because of the subjective nature of this form of communication our understanding of what we are discerning as the will of God must be tested and approved. Even when God speaks to us through obvious means such as personal prophecy we are instructed to “test everything”… and us to “hold fast to what is good.” The passage in Romans 12 further helps us understand that it is as we present ourselves to the Lord through living in a manner that is holy and acceptable to Him that we will be able to rightly test and approve the impressions that are influencing our hearts. If our life is filled with the mixture that comes from the things of this world then the measure by which we test the thoughts and impressions of our hearts will be distorted and our ability to rightly understand the voice of the Holy Spirit will be diluted and corrupted.
The second aspect of God’s leading addressed briefly in this psalm is the nature of God’s leading. Verse 20 says that God led His people “like a flock.” How does the shepherd lead His sheep? He directs them to provision, protection, proper care; he turns them back to safety if they go astray. He is not always there directing every step, but rather is watching over as a guide to their way. This is not to say that the Lord never has a specific plan but rather to emphasize the caring nature of His oversight and to identify that many times in His leading of our lives God gives us the responsibility of choosing. He has given us His word, His Spirit, wise counselors, our own thoughts and wisdom and a life full of experience to help us in choosing but then He asks us to choose! What do you want? Have you prayed about it? Does it pass the test of God’s values system? Does your have peace about it in your inner being? Do those who speak into your life have peace with the decision? Then you are on good ground to consider that the Lord may be asking you to make a choice.
The third aspect of Psalm 77:20 is who He chooses to accomplish His purposes. The vital principle conveyed in this portion of verse twenty is that God chose men and set them apart to be near to Him and entrusted them with the role of leadership over the nation of Israel. Simply put, at times God uses other people to provide direction in our lives. God will take a leader and draw Him near and endow Him with gifts and a mature ability to hear from God’s Spirit and then assign them the task of leading a people and a vision. God will use leaders to be a voice of counsel and confirmation to others who are following. The bottom line is that we are not left to follow God alone to the best of our abilities. God intended for His people to walk in relationship with one another, “like a flock.” Can you imagine the countryside covered in sheep running off in all directions to go wherever they please? The shepherd leads them both collectively and individually. We were created for relationship with one another and one of God’s means of providing direction for us is to use those around us as a voice of counsel and confirmation. Don’t do it alone! Build kingdom relationships and let the voice of wise counselors add light to your path. God wants to help you!