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God’s grace is overwhelming. This is a pretty basic statement, but His grace is especially overwhelming when I consider how He brings redemption out of failure.

The first chapter of Matthew is one of those lists of names we tend to skim over quickly, but the grace of God is so tangible in those verses. As we breeze through the “Zerubbabels” and the “Shealtiels,” do we remember that each of those names had a story?

Two of my favorite names in this genealogy are Perez and Solomon (ok, I’m also a pretty big fan of Zerubbabel, because it’s so fun to say). If you look at both those names, the genealogy shares not only their father’s name but also their mother’s.

Perez was the son of Judah and Tamar. Judah had a wife. Her name was not Tamar. So who is Perez’s mom?

Oh, yeah, Judah’s daughter-in-law that he tried to cheat out of a lineage – and then got pregnant when he confused her for a prostitute. Ouch.

Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba. The genealogy also mentions that she was the widow of Uriah. Remember how Bathsheba became a widow? Oh, yeah, David killed her husband to cover up his affair with her. Oops.

More than Managing the Mess

These were not little mistakes or funny stories. These were horrible decisions that hurt David and Judah and the people around them. These were moments when men who had been chosen by God decided to deliberately disobey what they knew was right. They served their own selfish desires instead of dying to themselves.

Those decisions didn’t stop God from working. He continued the lineage of the Savior not only through these people, but also through these moments of failure. This is amazing. This is how God works His victory in a broken world: through sinful, mixed up, broken people, in the midst of our failures and rebellion. He doesn’t just create sight, but He generates it by transforming blind eyes. He doesn’t just celebrate with those who live in freedom, but He takes captives and breaks off their chains.

Along the Silk Road there is plenty of brokenness to be seen. Alcoholism and poverty plague regions where there is little financial opportunity. Family dysfunction is rampant. People are trafficked across the area and out to other parts of the world. False religions dig their roots in over generations, binding people to superstition and useless practices.

These things are not good, but they are also not a hindrance to God’s plan of redemption. When He sees them He can see beautiful ways to work His plan through man’s failures.

God is in the Redemption Business

This is good news for the Silk Road! It is also good news for every one of us. No matter where we have failed, God is in the redemption business.

There are moments where I deliberately transgress against the will of God. I choose my own selfish desires above the needs of others or the call of Christ. As I stand in the aftermath of my decisions, the enemy whispers lies that I cannot be changed. That I will never fully belong to God. That God’s grace does not span far enough to truly redeem me.

Then the Holy Spirit speaks in a still and steady voice. He reminds me that redemption comes into effect in the face of something fallen. God is not pleased by my sin, but He is pleased when I allow His redemption to take hold in my life and lead me back to His heart.

If God can redeem the decisions made by Judah and David to give us the best gift this planet has ever received, then He can redeem my life to serve Him and others. He can redeem the darkness of the Silk Road and transform it into a beacon of shining light that testifies to God’s goodness and faithfulness for generations to come.

Act

• We all fail. Take a moment and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you where you need to repent and allow God’s redemption to take hold in your life.
• Maybe you’re already keenly aware of your failings, or the first point brought something new to your attention. Join me in praying from Psalm 51: “Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of my salvation, and make me willing to obey you.” If you can, take a moment and read all of Psalm 51. David wrote it after he committed some of the worst transgressions of his life.
• Pray that God would help you see our broken world with His eyes, including the Silk Road. Set a timer for three minutes and pray for one minute that God’s redemption plan will come to fruition in your life, one minute praying that that it will come in the lives of those around you, and the last minute praying that it will come in the ends of the earth.

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