God of Uncomfortable Truth,
You did not skip this story.
Though it breaks the rhythm,
though it bruises our expectations,
though it unsettles our comfort
You included it.
And so, we listen.
Judah turned aside.
He left his brothers.
He left the promise.
He wandered into compromise.
Lord, how often do I do the same?
When guilt weighs heavy,
when leadership costs too much,
when hiding feels easier than healing
I turn aside.
I distance myself from what is holy.
Judah took a wife.
His sons were wicked.
You saw.
You judged.
You removed.
And Tamar left behind.
A daughter in law.
A widow.
A woman promised justice
but left to wait in silence.
She waited for a husband
who would never come.
She waited for dignity
that no one intended to restore.
But she didn’t stay silent.
Tamar dressed as someone else
not to deceive for gain,
but to force a reckoning.
She risked shame
to uncover injustice.
Lord, this story is hard.
It stirs deep questions.
It exposes human sin
sexual sin, generational sin,
the sin of forgetting those
who have no voice.
And yet You were not absent.
You were not indifferent.
You brought truth to light.
Judah said,
“She is more righteous than I.”
In one moment,
the veil dropped.
Conviction broke through pride.
And You began the quiet work
of restoring the broken line.
Because from this union
from scandal and sorrow
would one day come
a Savior.
Jesus, born from Judah.
Born from Tamar.
Born from a story
the world would try to erase.
Lord, You are not afraid of mess.
You redeem the very things
we would bury in shame.
So I bring You my story.
The parts I want to skip.
The choices I regret.
The silence I’ve suffered.
The moments I turned aside.
And I trust
You are the God
who writes redemption
in the margins.
You do not hide the brokenness
You heal it.
You do not flinch from scandal
You transform it.
You do not forget the Tamar’s
You raise them into Your lineage.
So here I am.
Unveiled.
Seen.
Humbled.
And still invited.
In the name of Jesus,
Son of Tamar,
Lion of Judah,
Friend of the forgotten
Amen