Titus 2 Men And Women

Tamar - Running Ahead of God
By Teddi Neevel

Scripture: Genesis 38:6-30

Background: Judah chose Tamar to be the wife of Er, his oldest son. Shortly after their marriage God killed Er because of his wickedness. Following the Judaic law that covenant land past through the bloodline of the oldest son, Judah claimed the need for his second son, Onan, to marry his older brothers widow and father a son to be Er’s heir. Onan was willing to marry the widow and claim all of the rights and privileges of marriage, but he wasn’t willing to father a child for his brother.

God had a plan for the descendents of Judah and for Tamar, however God will never be a puppet master and pull strings to make us obey. Each individual was created with a free will…the power to choose…and Satan uses that right to choose to entice us to sin. There are several things that I want us to notice in this passage, first of all Tamar become a widow twice because of her husband’s sins. God was not punishing Tamar but removing Er and Onan.

Jacob, who God renamed Israel had received the blessing and promise that his sons would be the fathers of nations and kings, in fact the land and blessing of Abraham and Isaac passed on to Jacob.

Genesis 35:10-12 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. (11) And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; (12) And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

Our lives are effected by the sins of those around us. Our husbands can be holding fast to a sin and as God deals with them to bring conviction it will also touch us. If God has to grab my husband’s wallet…it causes me trouble. If God touches Fred’s body it causes me distress. That is not to say that every unexpected expense or every illness is the chastening hand of God. We know that God also allows things to happen that enable us to grow personally in the Lord and to equip us to be able to help others at a later time. And of course the opposite is also true. If the sin that God is dealing with is mine, Fred may feel the effect.

1Chronicles 2:7 says “And the sons of Carmi; Achar, the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the thing accursed.” I wanted to bring this one verse in at this point because it teaches another way that we are effected by the sins of others. Carmi was one of Judah’s 5 sons so Achar was Judah’s grandson. You see we can also be effected by the sins of our children and grandchildren.

Tamar was not being judged for her sin but she was effected by her husbands’ sins. Tamar returned to her father’s house and waited patiently for her brother-in-law to grow up. Because of her commitment to Judah and his family she was not free to have a life of her own. She was not free to remarry. Several years past and Tamar did like many of us would have done, she decided God needed her help. Tamar heard that her father-in-law would be passing through the area so she took off her widow’s clothes, put on a veil and went and sat at the side of the road.

Judah came along the road and saw Tamar sitting there and decided to avail himself of the services of the prostitute. Now I want to take a minute and talk about this. In the particular time that Tamar lived, the prostitutes didn’t want anyone to know who they were, so they covered their heads and faces with a vail. The clothing of the prostitute was recognized. In our society, the prostitutes wear tight scanty clothing displaying lots of leg, bare midrifts, and cleavage. They also wear extremely high-heeled shoes. Tamar was a good, modest, chaste woman who pretended to be a prostitute as she ran ahead of God’s plan. If we as Christian women wear the clothing of the prostitutes, we should not be surprised if other people mistake us for prostitutes. Neither the fashion gurus of New York and Paris, nor the Hollywood sex-pots should dictate what is proper apparel for Christian girls and women.

Tamar asked Judah for payment and accepted his signet, cuffs, and staff as a token until he sent his payment. When Judah left, Tamar returned to her home and her widows clothes. When the servant returned with the payment lamb, there was no prostitute to be found.

God had a plan and everyone seemed to be getting in the way. The Bible doesn’t tell us what God’s plan was or just how He would have worked things out.

God has a plan for each of our lives and it is easy to run ahead of God’s timing. When I was a teenager the emphasis in our church was that everyone should go to Bible College for at least a year. For one thing it gave you a buffer area into adulthood, you could get a good education and you might meet your future spouse. In college there were two ministries that were presented during missions conference week that really spoke to my heart. One was the Baptist Children’s Home in Grand Rapids, MI. The other was Shepherd’s Home for the mentally handicapped in Union Grove, WI. I believe that God was pulling my heart toward one of those two places. After two years of college, I had not met Mr. Wonderful. Two whole years…obviously God needed my help. I got an apartment and a job and didn’t return to college. I met lots of guys, went lots of places…many of them places I had no business going, and I kept looking for Mr. Right in all of those wrong places.

My sinful life-style effected my spiritual life, my health, my finances and my family. I don’t even want to think about the tears and sleepless nights I caused my parents. Nights they spent in prayer.

Seven long years later, God got my attention and I turned my life back over to Him. I asked my parents forgiveness and we prayed together that God would open the door He had for me even if it meant I would never marry. God directed me from California to a small town in Wisconsin. Three weeks after arriving in WI. I was introduced to Fred and the rest is history.

You see part of God’s plan for my life was to be Fred’s wife, but he was unsaved and married to someone else when I started trying to help God out. I could have finished college and spent five years working at either the Children’s Home or Shepherd’s Home and still ended up as Fred’s wife. Fred’s cousin was living in Grand Rapids attending a Bible College there during that same five years. The church that Fred joined after he was saved supported Shepherd’s Home and had them come for Mission’s Conferences. By the time that five years was up Fred’s first wife had decided to leave the marriage and Fred had been a single father for three years.

I want you to see that your life can go on when you realize you have run ahead of God. I want you to recognize the power of God to redirect and still work His plan when your children wander away from God. While Tamar gives us the bad example of just how easy it is for good women to really mess things up when we try to help God out, her story also gives us the promise of hope.

1 Chronicles 2:4-15 And Tamar his daughter in law bare him Pharez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah were five. (5) The sons of Pharez; Hezron, and Hamul. (6) And the sons of Zerah; Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara: five of them in all. (7) And the sons of Carmi; Achar, the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the thing accursed. (8) And the sons of Ethan; Azariah. (9) The sons also of Hezron, that were born unto him; Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai. (10) And Ram begat Amminadab; and Amminadab begat Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah; (11) And Nahshon begat Salma, and Salma begat Boaz, (12) And Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse, (13) And Jesse begat his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third, (14) Nethaneel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, (15) Ozem the sixth, David the seventh:

You see, God fulfilled His promise…His plan in spite of all the foul ups and human “help” along the way. Not Saul but David was of the line of Judah. Not just David but the kings who followed him even Jesus the coming King.

This page has been displayed 2 times this month, 398 times since November 28, 2005.