Joseph in trouble
Genesis 39:1-23 (New International Version)
1Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was
one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the
Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
2The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in
the house of his Egyptian master. 3When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he
did, 4Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put
him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he
owned. 5From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he
owned, the Lord blessed
the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar
had, both in the house and in the field.6So Potiphar left everything he had in
Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything
except the food he ate.
Now Joseph was well-built and
handsome, 7and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come
to bed with me!”
8But 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.9No 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?” 10And though she
spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with
her.
11One day he went into the house to
attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12She 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.
13When she saw that he had left his
cloak in her hand and had run out of the house,14she 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.15When he heard me
scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
16She kept his cloak beside her until
his master came home. 17Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave
you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18But as soon as I
screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
19When his master heard the story his
wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with
anger. 20Joseph’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, 21the Lord was with
him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison
warden. 22So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and
he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23The warden paid no
attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him
success in whatever he did.
Fleeing from youthful lust
What Joseph said to Potiphar’s wife though she kept putting pressure on him was so remarkable in this promiscuous world. He said to her “How could I ever do such wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.” He constantly had the sense of God's presence with him. Before committing any sin against any one, he believed that he commits it against God Himself! He not only had an excellent spirit but also walked in that spirit. The Bible says “walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal 5:16) . Do you have the sense of God’s presence everywhere? Do you walk in the spirit or flesh? The result will be accordingly.
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