In "Tamar" I see myself!

You might ask me a question such as "How in the heck do you see yourself in Tamar." On its face, it sure is an odd statement. Especially when we look at Tamar. Tamar the one that had sexual relations with her father-in-law while acting like a prostitute. Yeap, I see myself in her....LOL

In my condensed version of the events in Genesis 38 we find the story of Judah and Tamar. Judah, who is Jacob's son left his brothers and married a Canaanite; a descendant of Ham(Noah's Son) and part of the cursed people. In this marriage to Hirah, Judah would father three sons. They are Er, Onan, and Shelah. Er was given in marriage to Tamar. However, Er was found to be wicked in the eyes of the Lord and the Lord killed him. So Onan had to marry Tamar. However, the indication in scripture is that Onan would not have children with Tamar which displeased the Lord, and the Lord killed him. Then Judah promised Tamar that Shelah would marry her when he was grown. To make a long story short this third marriage never happened. So it is at this moment that Tamar takes things into her own hand and acts like a prostitute on the road to Timnah which Judah would be travelling. Judah finds her on the side of the road(not knowing who she is because she covers her face)and he has sexual relations with her. It is found later that she is pregnant and is to be burned for her crime. However, she kinda has a Ace in the hole, if you know what I mean. Judah left her his Signet, Cord, and Staff, (as a pledge for payment) identifying him as the father of this unborn child. Ooops. Did I leave that their. So needless to say she is not burned, she has twins who are named Perez and Zerah. In a funny sidenote on how God works, it appears Zerah was coming out first, when at the last moment his hand went back into the womb and out popped Perez.

The point that this story makes is that it shows us that God can take in essence a prostitute and figure it into the bloodline of our Glorious Savior. If we go to the 1st chapter of Matthew we see the genealogy of Jesus Christ. In verse 4 we have "Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram,". Now lets go forward a number of years where we come to verse 16 when we have "And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ. God's plan to perfection. Prostitute to Savior. Is he awesome. I also think he has a sense of humor.

Now back to my point of seeing myself in Tamar. I was born wicked and I did many things that should have sentenced me to death in the Lords eyes. However, he kept me alive and found some bit of favor in me for believing. I know with all my heart that my Savior picked me. Picked me, and I make Tamar look like an innocent angel. Take your Bible out and just read the 38th chapter of Genesis again. This small story inside the story of Joseph gives us a glimpse of God making things happen the way he wants it to happen. Most of us have just casually glossed over this story. But, look at how wonderful our savior is and how he "makes lemonade from lemons." Well, I'm here to tell you that he can make lemonade from you also. No matter how rotten or how bad you were; our God is big enough and strong enough and God enough to redeem you. Not only can he redeem you, but he can use you to the betterment of His Kingdom and to His Glory.

I pray thanking him everyday for redeeming me. He redeemed someone like Alex Bash, someone that would make Tamar look like a saint. I think that if we all look real close, we might find Tamar in us also.