“So Moses appealed to the Lord, “May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all, appoint a man over the community who will go out before them and come back in before them, and who will bring them out and bring them in, so that the Lord’s community won’t be like sheep without a shepherd.” (vv. 15-17)

On the doorstep of the Promised Land, Moses gets the news:

This is where he will die.

So he appeals to the LORD. He makes an earnest request in prayer. Moses steps up to the Judge’s bench to plead a case.

Question:

What would you have asked for? What would you have argued for? What would you hope the Judge would do for you?

Odds are that you and I would plead for more days, more life, a little bit more of a taste of the Promise.

That’s sensible.

But what does Moses ask for?

Give the people another shepherd.

Moses pleads for God to continue in His sovereign care for Israel. He doesn’t skirt the judgment he’s owed. He simply asks that God would bless the people with the next leader.

Now consider your faith life:

Are you living merely in pursuit of more and better days for you? Are you only ever concerned with the extension of your own life?

Or are you praying for, investing in, seeking out and calling up those who will inherit the church?

Maybe we should be making more pleas for those who will serve, shepherd, and steward what comes next.

— Tyler