“He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”
Genesis 39 : 9
A little background to this verse. Joseph having been sold by his brothers had been brought down to Egypt where Potiphar an officer of Pharaoh had bought him . When we read through chapter 39 we see of how God was with Joseph and the house of Joseph’s master was blessed because of him.
Now Joseph was handsome and we read in verse 7-9 , “And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house and he has put everything that he has in my charge. ”Potiphar had given Joseph command over everything . Whatever was his was Joseph’s.. We read in verse 9 “nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife” Just that one thing. Now just picture this… You are doing your work as God would have you do . And then Satan comes around with some form of temptation and says ‘Just this … Try just this… This one thing only … Do this one thing…’ . Interesting isn’t it that its always just that one thing that can change the entire course !
When we read the Genesis chapter 2 we see how God gave Adam full charge of everything. Whatever Adam called every living creature that was its name. Very cool ! The only thing he withheld was the fruit of that one tree. And what did satan do ? Genesis 3 : 1-4 , “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said , ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it, lest you die. ‘ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will surely not die.” .
Living in the garden of Eden where God would go walking in the garden – wow can you just imagine that ! That one thing that would change that course … That one thing… Satan went ahead to tempt them.
Coming back to Joseph , that one thing that was withheld came to taunt him. In fact we read in Genesis 39 : 10 , “And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.” Joseph was a man who honored God . God’s favor was so evidently upon him , yet he had to face this temptation day after day and conquer it every day. Satan wanted to change Joseph’s course . We read in John 10:10 that the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. We need to understand that very well. Whenever faced with temptation , whenever you get stuck at that crossroads we need to understand that nothing good can ever come from dishonoring God . NOTHING !! Satan has only one agenda and that is to steal, kill and destroy. He wants to rob you of the plans and purposes of God in your life. He wants to steer you off track as much as possible.
But you know what ? We have been called by the great I AM to overcome !! We read in Genesis 4 : 7 , “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you , but you must rule over it.”
God Bless
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