Staying Faithful Even When It is Hard

Paul Allen

Engage with the Lord: Joseph’s Story • Sermon • Submitted 4 months ago • Presented 4 months ago

Genesis 39:1–23

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The Perfect Circumstances

Genesis 39:1–6 (NIV)

Now 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.

The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph 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. From 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. So 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,

The success experienced by Joseph was not success obtained by his own hands. Joseph knew that he was the recipient of the Lord’s blessing and not his own. The word for success here is the same used to speak specifically of the Lord’s plan like in Genesis 24:21

Genesis 24:21 (NIV)

Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.

and Isaiah 53:10

Isaiah 53:10 (NIV)

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

The Lord Above All

Genesis 39:6–20 (NIV)

So 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, 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 temptation Jospeh faced was fitting for the circumstances. He had risen to power swiftly in an unlikely of ways. His supervision was minimal and any transgression could have been justified by his gains.

This situation would have likely corrupted other stewards, but Jospeh saw the relationship that he shared with his master and more importantly the relationship that he shared with the Lord. Joseph was barred from the realm of Potiphar’s wife and so he chose loyalty of relationship over temporary gain.

Trust

Genesis 39:20–23 (NIV)

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.

Death was the penalty that Jospeh would have expected. but the motivation for gain on Potiphars behalf likely shifted his sentence.

This passage mirrors verse 1-6 to remind us that it is the Lord who is over our circumstances and not ourselves. Will we trust in the Lord’s plan or continue to repeat the same broken cycles of limited gain?

Jeremiah 1:5–6 (NIV)

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

before you were born I set you apart;

I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

“Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”

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