Sinful Men; A Merciful God

Genesis 38

Saturday 16th September 2023

If God is perfect and holy, how can He use sinful and imperfect human relationships for His righteous agenda? It is because He is a merciful and gracious God who shows mercy to whom He wants to show mercy. (Exodus 33:19).

Judah got married to a Canaanite woman called Shua who gave birth to three sons. The oldest son, Er, married Tamar but was killed by God because of his wickedness. The second son, Onan, who refused to have children with Tamar and emitted on the ground was also killed by God. The third son was promised to Tamar but Judah never made it happen when he was of age. Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and slept with the father-in-law consequently bringing forth twins. This is a human story of broken promises and God’s abundant grace to turn it for good.

What can we learn from Genesis 38?

#1. God is just, we are not. (Genesis 38:1-10)

We see the justice of God revealed when He killed both Er and Onan for their unrighteous deeds. Man stands accused before God but His compassion keeps us from His severe justice. When Adam and Eve sinned against Him, He expelled them from His presence. 

#2. Broken promises can lead to severe retaliation. (Genesis 38:11-23)

If Judah had released his son Shelah to marry Tamar, she would not have disguised herself to sleep with the father-in-law.  She wanted to retaliate for the mistreatment she suffered. To promise and fail is to deny someone something precious they look up to. The broken promises of her father-in-law led her to take drastic actions against him which he confessed he was unrighteous.

#3. God can make something good come out from imperfect actions of men. (Genesis 38:24-30)

The third lesson we can take away is that God is merciful to extract good things from imperfect human relationships. It’s clear that right from Er to his father, all the relationships were flawed but God saw something good in it to let the Messiah come from Perez. In Matthew 1, we see Perez appear in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. 

God is able to use imperfect human conditions to produce His perfect will on earth.

Take Action: May God use every bad situation for His good.