Gracious Intrusion

     Genesis is an absolutely fascinating read. The author of Genesis, traditionally believed to be Moses, used a literary device to clearly mark ten headings (like chapter titles) throughout the book. The Hebrew phrase ‘elleh toledot occurs eleven times in the book of Genesis (2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12; 25:19; 36:1 [36:9]; 37:2) and has been translated in many ways including “these are the generations of,” “this is the family history of,” “this is the history of the descendants of” and “this is the account of.”  When these headings are in view, the structure of Genesis is seen as follows: a prologue describing the significance of creation, followed by ten stories of the people of God.
     As the ten stories (or chapters) of Genesis are read, a pattern becomes evident.  One author described this pattern as the sovereign and gracious intrusion of God into human history.  God did not simply create humans and then step back and allow them to do their own thing.  Instead, God worked to ensure humans would fulfill his purposes, despite their obvious sinfulness and short comings.  This is most clearly seen with Abraham and his descendants.
     In Genesis 12, God promises Abraham that He will give him a land, make him a blessing, and grow a nation or people through him.  The rest of the book of Genesis details God building the nation/people.  Constantly God is forced to overcome threats to this promise created by human sinfulness or stupidity.  For instance, Abraham and his descendants are constantly taking matters into their own hands, instead of seeking out God's plans.  Abraham sleeps with his maidservant to have a child, believing Sarah to be barren.  God intervenes to build the lineage through Sarah. Threat solved.  Then God tells Abraham to kill his only son, Isaac.  This is an obvious threat to the lineage.  God provides a ram - threat solved.  One day Abraham thinks it would be a good idea to tell a foreign king Sarah is his sister.  The king takes Sarah as one of his lady-friends.  Again, God has to act, sending a sickness until the king figures out what has happened - threat solved.  Surprisingly, Isaac will do the same exact thing with his wife.  Jacob steals the blessing of Esau, causing enmity between the two brothers.  Jacob's father-in-law later tries to hunt him down. Joseph's brothers sell him into slavery.  Enslaved in Egypt, Joseph is falsely accused and thrown in jail.  Meanwhile, his family is about to start starving due to a famine.  What does God do?  He graciously intervenes each time his people are threatened and builds them into a great nation.
     Through the story of Joseph, Jacob's people, the descendants of Abraham, end up in Egypt.  Once in Egypt, they are incubated for about 400 years until God releases his huge nation from their captivity to fulfill his purposes in the world.  God graciously intrudes into human history to ensure his purposes are realized on this earth.
     God still graciously intrudes into this world to see his purposes fulfilled and he continues to build his people to carry out these purposes.  The church is one mechanism of God's gracious intrusion into the world.  Therefore, I contend it is the responsibility and role of every Christian and every Christian community to graciously intrude into the lives of their family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, sports teams, social clubs, etc.  In recent history, a growing number of voices are calling for the church to begin to refocus on graciously intruding in the lives of those in the community.  I agree, and often find myself asking, Who's life am I intruding with the grace of God?  My guess is we should all be asking this question.