Genealogy Women Challenge: The Lesson

It is my heart’s cry and desire to be used of God. To be used mightily for His purposes and His Kingdom.

Somehow, I think I make it so much more difficult than it should be. I get so caught up in thinking I must somehow have it all together before He can use me, before He would choose to use me. Somehow I think maybe there are things of the past that He can't use, or won't use. I must somehow take care of all of that first.

So I strive. I strive for what I think He wants of me. I read books, I look at the lives of other people He appears to be using. I try to change what I think needs to be changed… and I find I miss the mark completely.

Do you see it? In each and every one of these women listed in the genealogy of Jesus, do you see their imperfections? Do you see the life stories they each get caught up in? They did not have their act together. They did not lead perfect lives.

Do you see that God allows us in on their bad choices and their bad decisions? His Word could have been given to us without giving all the "nitty gritty" details.

Take Tamar for instance, she did not trick her father in law Judah until after his wife had died. So, the Bible could have just shared that after his first wife died, he married Tamar and gave birth to the twins.

Or what about Rahab? Was it really pertinent to the story that she was a prostitute? Couldn’t she just have been an unmarried woman in Jericho that gave the spies covering and protection?

Did it matter that Ruth lived in a pagan country and probably grew up practicing pagan ways?

The story of Bathsheba could have been covered so easily. Again the Bible could have just shared that Uriah died in battle and Bathsheba became David’s wife.

Instead, we are given the details. We are allowed to see in to their very lives, their very hearts.

That is where I am encouraged.

I see the "details" of their lives and I see the "details" of mine. I am not in an impossible place. You are not in an impossible place. God wants to use us... if we are willing! That brings comfort to the sometimes troubled corners of my heart.

God chose to use them and allow them to be a part of something big...something much larger than they even could have imagined or had the privilege of knowing. They did not get the opportunity to read Matthew 1 before they died. They did not get to see how their tender hearts allowed God to change them, use them and be a part of ushering in the greatest story of all time.

Now, God did NOT condone their sins!! In fact, David and Bathsheba watched as their child suffered from an illness so great that it took the baby’s life after 7 days.

They still suffered the consequences of their choices. They were still held accountable.

But when they repented, when they had hearts tender towards the very things of God… towards God Himself, when they sought hard after God, He chose to work.

This is where I find myself challenged by these genealogy women.

May my heart be ever willing, obedient, surrendered, open, and honest with itself towards the things of God. May I be willing to change the things He directs. May I be willing to obey in what He calls, regardless of what or where it is.

May I be so driven to Him that all else falls behind me. May I not strive and attempt in my own power and working to be “prepared and ready” for God to use me. May I surrender… as I am… and choose to let God decide what prepared and ready looks like.

May I also be willing to trust God so completely that I don’t look for the ways He is using me. May I learn to believe that I may never see in my earthly lifetime what part He is allowing me to play. May I be content with that.

May my heart’s desire and drive be so focused on HIM and becoming more like HIM… that all else doesn’t matter. May I be so confident that my requirement is to pursue Him, to seek Him, to run hard after Him… that really, whether He is using me or not, how He is using me or not, isn’t even the issue.

I want the issue to be… am I allowing HIM to change me and to mold me? Am I allowing HIM to call me to various ministries, not seeking things out that I think are a good idea? Am I willing to open my heart eyes to see areas that need to change? Am I willing and obedient in changing those things regardless of the discomfort? Am I driven, hard and desperate… to HIM?

Dear genealogy women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba,

I'll bet never in your wildest dreams did you know your life story would be used by God Himself to reach out in the year of 2009, touch this simple woman's heart, encourage her, comfort her, and bond her to yourselves.

Even if someone told you, in the midst of all the tragedy, heartache, fear, confusion, and chaos of your heart that you found yourselves in, that God would use that to comfort those same areas in my heart... I'll bet it would have seemed unreal.

I'll bet you never imagined that God would allow your lives, your imperfections, your humanness, and most importantly your tender " God driven" hearts to challenge this one woman's heart to also be "God driven" beyond what seems even possible.

Thanks genealogy women... thanks for the challenge!!