Introduction

We will examine case studies using primary historical resources, including the Bible, to explore how God enters humans' lives, revealing his purpose for their lives. Secondarily, we learn how we can prepare ourselves for (or learn how to hide ourselves from) God's calling us. For each people, we will focus on the initial revelation of God's purpose or love, not on subsequent actions or theology. If we did the latter, we would have to study the entire Bible and more!

It is your responsibility to find the patterns and determine how what you learn applies to your life. Some questions to ask yourself as you read the studies include

• Why was the person chosen? Did she have an ancestry, do good works deserving God's intervention, or have a particular skill?
• How did God contact the person? Did God use a dream, another person, the Bible, a thunderbolt?
• What did God ask of the person? How precisely was the request presented? Could the recipient have rejected the request? Was the request difficult or easy to fulfill?
• How did the person react? Did he cower, stand confidently, step forward, run away, laugh, seek counsel from others?
• What type of relationship did God seek to establish with the person? Did it rely on the person's actions or thoughts? Was it conditional?
• What was the historical and geographic context for the encounter? How did this change how God and the person interacted, the request, and the method of contact?
• What can you learn from the encounter? How can you make yourself more available to God?