Why do people migrate?

Last Night during the Bible studying that I am facilitating, we looked at the migration stories of different people in the Old Testament and examined their migration paths. Some left their place of origin to go to another and stayed there. For others it was a more circular path, they left their place of origin and settled in a new place, but then went back to their place of origin after some years.

We discovered there were various reasons why people migrated. One main reason was famine, another was war, another was to escape persecution, and another reason we saw was God called them to migrate. God needed them to help either back in their place of origin or in a foreign land. God called Moses to leave Midian and to go back to Egypt to lead his people out of Egypt. One can interpert that Ruth feels a calling to go to to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law Naomi. Ruth ultimately becomes an ancestor of King David, who is an ancestor of Joseph. One can also argue that God played a part in Daniel's migration. Maybe God didn't play a direct part in calling or asking Daniel to go to Babylon, but God was with Daniel in Babylon and protected him and Daniel was ultimately a witness to God's love and convent.

I was thinking about this on the way home from the Bible Study.

How has God called me to migrate? How has God been there for me when I was in a foreign land?

What is God's ultimate vision for the migrations that are happening today in the world? Here in this country? In our communities? In our churches? These answers might not be revealed to us, but we can start to look at migration as something positive and not negative. We can start to look at migrants/immigrants as people with value that can contribute to the society.

M. Daniel Carroll R. raises the question in his book Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church, and the Bible, "Is God bringing millions of Hispanics to the United States to revitalize the Christian churches here and to present to those who do not yet believe the opportunity to turn to Christ in their search for a new life?" (p. 61). This is a powerful question. Is there divine intervention in the migration of people to this country?