I woke up the other morning with the song, “This Is A Move” by Tasha Cobbs in my mind. One of the lines in that praise song says, “We need a move.” As usual, this got me thinking, “Yes, in our times, we need a move.” Then, as I thought about it, all these examples of God’s moving in the Bible came to me. And one, which is not what we usually think of when asking God for a move, I’ll mention at the end. These may not be in chronological order.
God had a plan for His people and told Abraham to move, “The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1). Abraham moved.
God’s people were stranded at the Red Sea with the Egyptian army in back of them. They couldn’t move but God told Moses, “And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you today:” (Exodus 14:13). God moved!
God’s people had crossed the Jordan river and needed to take the city of Jericho. God gave Joshua strange instructions to move on, “March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days.” (Joshua 6:3). The people had to move then God moved.
The army of Israel was stopped by the Philistine’s giant, Goliath who taunted them day by day. They wouldn’t move. So, God sent one boy, “As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.” (1 Samuel 17:48). David moved.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but King Herod wanted to kill him, so God told them to move. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.” Matthew 2:13). Joseph moved.
Lazarus had been dead in the tomb for four days and Jesus gave them a strange command, “Take away, (move), the stone;” (John 11:39). Lazarus couldn’t move until Jesus gave the command to move the stone. The people moved the stone.
The 120 that were in the Upper Room were filled with the Spirit as God moved. They moved outside and as Peter preached, “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.” (Acts 2:41). God moved!
Jesus came to earth but when His mission was finished, He was going to move back to Heaven. “I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” (John 16:28). Jesus moved.
Now, for the not-usually-thought-of move of God. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). We, who are God’s people, are going to change our earthly residence and move to Heaven in the Rapture! “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2).
Whether God moves in our situation, whether He commands us to more or He calls us to move Heavenward, God is in control and we thank Him!