Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
"Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he refused. "With me in charge," he told her, "my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, she called her household servants. "Look," she said to them, "this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house." She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story: "That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house." When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, "This is how your slave treated me," he burned with anger. Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did." Genesis 39:7-23
Joseph had everything going his way in Egypt. As the beginning of Chapter 39 indicates, the Lord was with Joseph as he was purchased by the chief of the guard, Potiphar, and the blessing extended over Potiphar’s household. Potiphar, realizing how much he had prospered after Joseph joined him, gave Joseph control over everything except for the food he ate. And Potiphar wasn’t the only one who had noticed Joseph…so did his wife.
As we read in today’s passage, Potiphar’s wife tries to entice Joseph into an adulterous tryst. Joseph angered by her advance reminds Potiphar’s wife that he has been given control of everything in the household except for her. He also calls out her action as sinful against God by saying, "How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" Joseph knew the source of his good fortune. He also knew what he could and couldn’t do…what was sinful and what was righteous. He refused to give into Potiphar’s wife.
Question: Have you ever been tempted by something or someone? It could be that someone sees your good fortune and wants you to "bend the rules" (i.e. sin) a bit. For example, you are making good money in your position at a company but could be doing even better if you could just "fudge" the numbers a little bit and pocket the difference. Or it could be that you have a weakness that you are trying to overcome and someone doesn’t respect you enough to stop enticing you. For example, you’re trying to stop smoking or drinking and yet someone keeps coming up to ask you if you want to go for a smoke or a drink. It seems that just when we’re getting things going the way we want them to go, Satan tries to get us to sin and throw away all we have been blessed with.
Well, Potiphar’s wife wasn’t about to give in and continues to go after Joseph. The scripture tells us this was day after day with Joseph rejecting her every time until one day when she decided she would take her sinfulness to a new level. With "none of the household servants…inside", she physically grabs onto Joseph and as he pulls away and flees her, he leaves his cloak in her hand. Potiphar’s wife, scheming as she was, accused Joseph of attacking her with only her screams and resistance fending off her attacker. She verbally assaults Joseph telling her husband, ""That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me." Not only is Potiphar’s wife lying and implicating Joseph but she now shoots a barb at her husband, blaming him for bringing Joseph into the household in the first place. Potiphar’s wife is essentially telling her husband, "None of this would have ever happened if you hadn’t brought this Hebrew slave in."
Well, Potiphar, Joseph's master, believed his wife, took Joseph, and "put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined." Potiphar’s wife thought she had won. But did she really? As we will find out in later lessons, Joseph going to prison was all about God’s plan for him. In other words, despite her sins and evil, good and its essence in God prevailed.
Question: Have you ever been the victim of someone’s scheme? Have you ever felt that evil had the victory? Well, maybe next time you have this kind of experience, turn to God and see what He has in mind. He always has a plan…we need just to seek it out. When one door in life closes, He’s always ready to open another. Trust in this.
Well, Joseph while in prison was not alone…we’re told "the Lord was with him…and showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden." This led to the warden putting "Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there." We’re also told that "the warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did." Once again, what seemed like a disastrous point in Joseph’s life turned out well. The Lord, being with Joseph through this whole period, saved him from first his murderous brothers, then slavery under Potiphar and now imprisonment. Do you not see something common in all this? We serve a God who is our Deliverer…our very present help in times of trouble. Please remember this if you are going through a struggle today…or when you are in the midst of future struggles…and we know they will come. Just as with Joseph, the Lord is with us folks…and this is GOOD NEWS! Thanks be to God!
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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