“…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.
Genesis 39: 9b – 10
In our previous discussion, we learnt that our Lord Jesus Christ was tempted in the wilderness after He had fasted for 40 days. His response to the devil’s tempting was, “It is written…” Christians today have God’s Word (The Bible) that we can speak with authority to the tempter, “It is written.” Today, we are learning from a young man by the name of Joseph who was faced with temptation and his response, as detailed in the Book of Genesis Chapter 39.
Conversely, Joseph’s father, Jacob, loved him more than his brothers, and as such, they hated him. God had blessed him, Joseph, with a special gift of interpreting dreams, which when he shared with his relatives, caused them to hate him even more. Thus, at seventeen years old, they planned to kill him, but eventually, sold him to a group of Ishmaelite merchants, who took him to Egypt. Here, he became a slave in the house of Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard.
Joseph, who was well built and handsome, was admired by his master’s wife, whose admiration became lustful. Every day her eyes came upon Joseph, she would say to him “come to bed with me.” But he resisted her advances and informed her that his master (Potiphar), had put everything in his house, under his control except his wife and his response to her request was, ‘I cannot do such a wicked thing and sin against God.’
Whatever temptations you and I face, the tempter (Satan), would not stop until we give in to the temptation, or resist by speaking the Word of God over that situation. Joseph continued to resist Mrs. Potiphar’s request to go to bed with her. One day, however, as he went to work in his master’s house, Mrs. Potiphar held onto him since no one else was present at the time.
Joseph, knowing what she wanted, ran out of the house, leaving his cloak behind. Potiphar’s wife, in her humiliation, lied to her household servants about Joseph and repeated the untruth to her husband upon his return home; resulting in an innocent young man being sent to prison. Why? Because he purposed in his heart that he would not do such wickedness and sin against God.
Joseph understood that the dreams God gave to him back in his father’s house, must be fulfilled in his life. Therefore, he was not going to allow anything or anyone to hinder God’s plans and purposes for his life. Joseph overcame his temptation by remaining strong in the Lord, and in the end, at the age of thirty (30), God elevated him to become the second most powerful man in Egypt, under Pharaoh. He fulfilled his purpose which included saving his family and citizens of surrounding nations, from death.
One act of yielding to temptation can cause us to lose our blessings and even miss God’s plans and purposes for our lives. Remember, your life is the sum total of the choices you make. Let us purpose in your hearts today, that we would not yield our members (body parts) as instruments for unrighteousness, but unto God. Let’s boldly declare to the tempter, “I cannot sin against God.” Amen.
Read: 1 Corinthians 10:6-13; Genesis 37:2-5; 37:25-28; Genesis 39: 21-23
Bible Reading Guide: Psalm 76; Acts 13:42-52; Acts 14:1-7; I Kings 7:23-51; I Kings 8:1-21
