Numbers 11:10–12: “Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent. And when the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, Moses was also displeased. And Moses said to the Lord, ‘Why have You afflicted Your servant? Why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You lay the burden of this entire people on me? Did I conceive this entire people? Did I give birth to them, that You should say to me, “Carry them in your arms as a foster father bears a nursing child,” to the land that You swore to their fathers?’”

Moses just cannot understand: “What do I have to do with these people?” He cannot understand the new role that God wants him to adopt.

I am not going to focus on the complaint; I want to focus on the relationship. He is saying, “Why would You say to me, ‘Carry them in your arms as a foster father bears a nursing child to the land that You swore to their fathers’?” Why would You give me this responsibility? Why should I assume this role over these people?

That is also the kind of mind that a pastor will have—having a feeling of responsibility. You do not need to look further than the words of the writer of Hebrews: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account” (Hebrews 13:17). In a way, Moses is a picture of that.

Moses was a shepherd—he focused on sheep. He had mastered that for forty years. Then God called him: “I want to use you to rescue these people from the land of bondage” (Exodus 3). God is saying, “I am going to define the relationship. You are going to think of yourself as the foster father and think of these people as those you are responsible for.”

Moses wanted to resign. Even at the beginning, he did not want to take the job. And after doing the job for a while, he wants to say, “I do not want to do this anymore. This pressure is too much.” The people complained against him; now he complains to God.

I am trying to say there is a unique kind of relationship between the leaders and the people following after, when it comes to the church.

Look at the way Peter thought about himself when an issue came up in Acts about the feeding of certain people and it was causing a problem. Peter said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve tables… we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:2–4). Look at that. He is saying, “Our role is defined. We have a different role,” talking about the apostles in relation to the people. “We have the responsibility of feeding the people with the word of God, and it is going to take time. It is going to take devotion to be able to do that effectively.”

And look at where he is coming from. He is coming from Jesus Christ telling him, “Feed My lambs… shepherd My sheep… feed My sheep” (John 21:15–17). He was a fisherman before. Jesus told him, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19)—a picture of the evangelist. But “feed My sheep” is clearly the picture of a leader in the church who has responsibility for ongoing care of the flock through the means of the word of God.

So you look at Jesus saying, “Feed My sheep.” These are My sheep. “You feed them. That is your responsibility. That is your role now.”

And what was the role of Moses? Moses complained, “Where am I going to get food for all these people?” (Numbers 11:13). The role is still feeding. Now they have come from Egypt and they are on their way to the promised land. The role of the leader now is to provide sustenance—to feed the flock, to feed the flock.

God bless you. See you later.