Read Genesis 39:1-20

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 and 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 he left in Joseph's care everything he had; 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. (NIV)

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As we look at how Joseph’s life is going so far, we can see that it has gone from bad, his brothers wanting to kill him and then selling him as a slave, to being blessed by God so that everything he does turns our great.  Just as he is probably thinking life will be good, Potiphar’s wife puts him in a compromising situation that he is punished for, even though he has done everything right.

Even when we do everything right, and even being blessed beyond measure by God, bad things can still happen to us.  This is part of the fallen nature of the world we live in.  God does not protect us from every harm.  I believe he does some, but not all.  And sometimes God allows bad things to happen to us so that a greater good can happen.  The bad forces us into places we would never go.  This bad thing is pushing Joseph to go to a place he could not get there on his own.

As we live our lives, we must begin to change how we view the bad that happens.  It is a hard thing to do, but when bad things happen, we can either get down and depressed or we can begin to look to see how God is going to use this situation, this pain.  The thing we must do is stay the course of our faith.

Joseph had plenty of chances to give into temptations. But he stayed true to his faith in God by doing what was right in the sight of God.  He found out that just because we do what God wants means that the world will reward us for us.  Jesus told his disciple that they would be hated because they followed him.  This has not changed in the world today.

Again, we see no defense from Joseph.  Again, he does not plead his case.  But we will see he does continue to trust God and to walk in God’s ways.

Have you ever done everything right and yet, bad came of it or something totally out of the blue hit you when you thought live is good now?  This can be hard.  We are living in one of those times now.  Life was good.  People were living their lives and then this virus upset everything.  Most people say, they did do anything wrong, and yet simply by doing what they always did, they are suffering now.

How should we react to life not going the way we want it?  What does it mean to trust God when things don’t look good?  How can you walk closer with God today so that when something bad happens, you can stand strong?

Joseph gives us lots to think about in what happened to him and how he reacted.

Comments? Questions?

Blessings and Peace

Pastor Harry