DAY 2: When God Moves You (Part 2)

" I am so weak that I can hardly write, I cannot read my Bible, I cannot even pray. I can only lie still in God's arms like a little child and trust." (Hudson Taylor's last words)

Transitions are God's way of getting us from where we are to where He wants us to be. Sometimes they seem like setbacks. Sometimes they seem to make no sense at all. Sometimes they last longer than we'd like. But God uses them to strategically position us in the right place at the right time.

In his book Learned Optimism, Dr Martin Seligman says that all of us have what he calls an "explanatory style" to account for life's experiences. He says, "Explanatory style is the manner in which you habitually explain to yourself why events happen." Genesis 50:20 is Joseph's explanatory style. Joseph looks back over his life - all the dysfunction, all the injustice, all the betrayal, all the pain - and he says, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."

Joseph could have come up with any number of explanations for his thirteen years in slavery and prison. "God has forsaken me." "God is angry with me." But Joseph's explanation is Genesis 50:20. That one verse summarizes him outlook on life. He realises that God used all these experiences to strategically position him as Prime Minister of Egypt.

If you are going to trust God through transitions, you need to know that you know God uses them to get us from where we are to where He wants us to be.

So when you lose your job or when you move from one job to another or when you have to make some changes to your lifestyle because of financial constraints or when you have to deal with relational changes when your kids transit in life - all these transitions are God's ways of moving you from where you are to where He wants you to be.

Those transitions may appear confusing and even frustrating. They may be uncomfortable and painful. But God is at work and He is moving you. Trust Him and wait on Him. Yield to Him and co-operate with Him.

(Adpated from Senior Pastor Guna Raman's devotion on "Managing Transitions in a Downturn."