MOVING

I’ve moved so many times in my life that I’ve never had to reorder business cards. But moves are trickier these days. First, I wonder if my knee is going to give out while I’m carrying the desk down the stairs. Second, it seems like furniture keeps getting heavier. Third, I thought I was doing a good job downsizing, so how in the world did we get so much stuff? Ah, but it’s all good. Moving is an opportunity to start afresh, to trust God around new bends and to meet new people. Fortunately, this office move was less than a mile away.

Meditation
Genesis 46:3,4—God said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you back. Joseph will put his hands on your eyes.” (Holman CSB)

If anyone ever had reason to protest moving, it was Jacob. After all, he was living in the land the Lord promised to give his grandfather, Abraham. But God had other plans. First, He sovereignly used jealous brothers to relocate Joseph to Egypt. Second, with His hand of favor securely on Joseph’s life, He made him second only to Pharaoh in authority. Third, He caused a massive famine which forced Jacob and his entire family to move to Egypt for food. Why were these machinations necessary?

Do you believe it is God’s intent for the world to know Him? By uprooting Jacob, He wove an amazing story. Instead of calmly building the nation of Israel in the promised land of Canaan, He jerked them around through rising stress. The family of 70 morphed from favored status in Egypt to a nation of slaves. Yet, God fantastically worked over 400 years later to free them through Moses. “Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, ‘I am Yahweh. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I did not make My name Yahweh known to them’” (Exodus 6:3). The Israelites experienced God in a way unknown to their forefathers. The world heard about God’s mighty acts—which was His all along purpose. The move became a movement.

So, if it seems like God is uprooting you, or sending you down windy roads when you can see a much easier way, take heart! He knows what is best for us. He sees the world and forms the future. His plan is flawless. We don’t have to understand, we have to trust Him. And though the move may be a pain, so long as we keep Him at the center of our vision, the end will be better than we deserve.

Inspiration
God changes our circumstances; sometimes they are bright, sometimes they are the opposite; but God makes them work together for our good, so that in each particular set of circumstances, the Spirit of God has a better chance to pray the particular prayers that suit His designs, and the reason is only known to God, not to us.—Oswald Chambers in The Discipline of Prayer