Redeeming A Bad Situation

Redeeming a Bad Situation

Tamar

Read: Genesis 38:25-30

Maya thought about the trouble she was in as she waited for the church service to begin. After getting her nursing degree, she had moved near a large city to take a hospital position. Unfortunately, budget problems had eliminated her job before she even started. The woman next to her interrupted her thoughts as she introduced herself. She turned out to be the wife of a doctor at the local clinic. Two weeks later, Maya began a new job a few miles from her apartment, with better benefits and hours than her original one.

It’s hard for us to imagine what motivated Tamar to lure Judah into such an immoral act. Was she tired of living as a widow in her father’s house, unable to marry again because Judah withheld the man who should have been her husband? Since society considered motherhood a woman’s primary role, was Tamar determined to have a child at any cost? Did Tamar share the Hebrews’ sense of the importance of continuing the family line?

Whatever her reasoning, God could not condone Tamar’s use of deception, her incestuous union with her father-in-law, or Judah’s use of a prostitute. Yet God allowed Tamar to conceive twin sons, and through one of them, he continued Judah’s family line that led to Jesus’ birth. In spite of Tamar’s Canaanite background and the morally reprehensible way that she attained motherhood, God included her and one of her sons in the genealogy of the Savior of the world.

The Bible records many instances of God’s redeeming a situation from someone’s poor judgment. He does the same thing in our lives, though we often don’t realize it. In spite of our mistakes, failures, and wrong choices, God continues to work out his plan. Jesus died to redeem us from our sin, and God redeems each negative circumstance of our lives and uses it for good.

Redeem me and show me mercy.

Psalm 26:11