Tamar, the widow without an heir, saw an opportunity. If this was any other person walking by I doubt Tamar would have answered the same way she did Judah. She wasn’t looking to be with just any man. That would be unlawful. Saying yes to Judah on the other hand was within the limitations of the law and had the potential to provide the heir for Tamar that Judah withheld. This was a calculated yes. Genesis 38 gives us a glimpse at Tamar’s thought process.
To answer the questions “why did Jacob wrestle with God?” we have to the different pieces of Jacob’s story starting with the details of his hasty exit from his homeland. To say he left on bad terms is an understatement. Jacob left home because of a death threat from His brother. In addition to his brother being anger, Jacob brought a wave of grief over his father. He left home not knowing if he would see his father again or if he would have a family to come back to. That alone would put many of us in a season of emotionally and intellectually wrestling with God. For Jacob though, it’s more than that. He had literally given up his family, in order to accept God’s “calling” on his life. One thought he probably wrestled with is “was it worth it?”
Sometimes acting on what we know and believe (faith) requires us to make choices others won’t understand. That pressure to be understood often causes us to compromise and get out of step with God. When we make our lives about serving God instead pleasing people, His faithfulness to us encourages us to do the brave hard things that no one around us will understand. That’s probably my favorite part of Rebekah’s story.
In the Bible God is often referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Have you ever wondered why that is? I know for some people its a turn off. It feels exclusive. They think, If God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and my ancestry doesn’t connect to Abraham, Isaac,…
There’s a depth to these women that we don’t often get to explore because of the drama they’re connected to. Today, I’d like to explore and see what lessons from Sarah and Hagar we’ve missed that we can actually learn from. In this article, we’re going to challenge our preconceived ideas about the story of Hagar and Sarah in the Bible. We’re going to ask the questions that no one is asking and lean into Scripture for the answers.
It’s easy to overlook the importance of repentance in the Bible. In a lot of modern churches, they claim there’s not really a need for it. They say God’s grace covers our sin so it doesn’t really matter how we live. This is a misunderstanding of God’s grace. It’s also a misunderstanding of the actual gospel message. The gospel that Jesus, those before Him, and the disciples after Him taught is a “gospel of repentance.”
