ShepherdLeader.com

Wildernerss Formation: For both Moses and David, the protection, provision, and guidance of Yahweh as their Shepherding God was learned first in their days as shepherds themselves. It is in God’s good providence that the two great figures of the Hebrew Bible are shepherds who go on to shepherd-lead the covenant people of Yahweh. It was through their wilderness wanderings as a member of God’s flock that they learned to lead the people of God through wilderness experiences.

This is a powerful image for those in pastoral ministry. As we look at the course of our lives, it is the seasons and struggles of life that God teaches us to trust him as our Good Shepherd that prepare us most for pastoral ministry in meeting and leading the people of God through their own wilderness experiences. Lanick concludes chapter 2 with these helpful reflections: “Like Moses, who had prefigured him in such dramatic ways, the shepherd ruler of Israel had first learned to trust YHWH as his personal shepherd in the desert...Israel’s kings had to understand that being a member of the flock of God was more fundamental than being an appointed shepherd over that flock� (114).

This is a helpful observation. Leading a large church, I feel the pressure to go from glory to glory, one good cycle of growth to another. But, this way of thinking about church leadership negates what God might wish to do in forming his people through the pressure of the test. The wilderness is where we learn trust, faith, and the process of repentance. It's good to be reminded that God chose to lead his people through the wilderness, on purpose. God may still choose to lead us in the same way, too. And church growth strategies aside, when he leads us into wilderness, we shepherds must learn to follow him there as well, so we can lead our people.

I appreciate the attention given to wilderness throughout the text. In particular, Psalm 23 has greater depth when understood in the context of a wilderness covenant. To not be in want, to be led to green pastures and still waters, all in the midst of the wilderness, this requires a divine shepherd unlike any ordinary human being, and is certainly beyond what any sheep could provide for himself. But to appreciate just who our shepherd is requires us to acknowledge that we live in a wilderness, which means acknowledging that God’s promise of provision is not merely physical or material, but fundamentally spiritual. Wilderness is not an experience to be avoided - it is the very context of our experience of God as shepherd.