You’re likely familiar with the modern Christian poem Footprints in the Sand. The final verse is the most memorable, with God remarking to the writer “…When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you”. It’s a fine poem inviting us to place our trust in God, especially when we cannot see him.
Psalm 77 has a similar theme, voicing our struggles in life. The Psalmist responds to our struggles by recalling past mighty works of our God, and trusting that God will continue to work them in our life. The psalm ends by reflecting on God saving his people from Egypt through the Red Sea:
19…Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen.
20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
The psalm similarly ends mentioning footprints, but with a different twist. We’re taught that God loves working through his servants, in this case, Moses and Aaron. Jesus is the Great Shepherd of us, the church, his flock. But both in the Old and New Testaments God sent under-shepherds to accomplish his work.
There may be times when we are truly alone with no one but God. But more often, even in our worst struggles, God has placed other people in our lives that he works through to help us.
In this sense, we could nuance the Footprints poem by saying that God is walking in the footprints of those around us. We may see Moses or Aaron coming to our aid, but it is God working through them to care for his flock.
Again, there may be times we are alone. But when we are suffering, we should trust that God will work through those around us. He continues to send pastors (meaning “shepherd”) to be a personal shepherd to people in their own time and location. Our God never stops working in, with, and even through us, his flock.