Interestingly, we have this little insert of Judah’s life. Considering the disgrace of his actions, one might wonder why God chose to have this incident recorded. Seems better to save the humiliation and leave it out. After all, nothing is recorded about any of the other brothers with the exception of Joseph. Remember from reading just a few days ago that this is the brother who came up with the brilliant plan to make a profit off of his brother Joseph by selling him into slavery rather than just kill him. What a sweet brother. Why choose this one brother and this sad situation to be included in God’s story of humankind’s redemption? Take a quick look at Matthew 1:3, the genealogy of the Messiah. Judah. Tamar. Perez. Zerah. It is from this scandalous line that the Messiah is born. God continues His pattern of using the least likely, the unfavored. Joseph is the most likely; he is the one I would have chosen. Not God. Now back to Joseph. He was the pivotal player in establishing the nation of Israel. It is repeated multiple times that God was with Joseph. This young man of God honestly just had a horrible life of misfortune. Many people claim that they are victims but this poor guy truly was. Yet, he never pouts or whines or cries victim. By the time we get to the end of today’s reading, I wanted to yell, God make it stop for this guy! His proves his faith and we can learn a simple, yet life changing truth from his life. It is possible to remain faithful to God in the midst of temptation and misfortune. This young man proved as much. His unwavering faith in God Almighty allowed him to be an incredible vessel for God to carry out His promise. We will read about that tomorrow. We see from his faith proven time and time again that he is the mostly likely choice from whom the Messiah would come, but it is not this man of faith that God chooses. Incredible. There is one more character that I want to briefly discuss. Potiphar’s wife. Good grief here is yet another woman wanting what she can’t have. Will we as women ever learn to leave alone what is not ours?! God shows us something through this situation, though. It seems tragic for Joseph. He is thrown in jail. He is forgotten. What we will see tomorrow is that this is how God brings His good from this bad situation. Romans 8:28 tells us that God works all things together for His good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. Joseph didn’t panic and Potiphar’s wife didn’t win. Joseph loved God and had a special purpose; God used even the scheme of this woman to bring about His plan for Israel. God is not bound by the schemes of man. Despite human failure, God has the power, the wisdom and the love to continue His covenant. That should bring us great hope when we face circumstances that seem unfair. No matter what anyone else may do to us, our lives will not remain destroyed. God will pick up the pieces and carry out His purpose in our lives. No man can destroy what God wants to accomplish through lives of those who love Him.
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