We left off yesterday with Joseph in charge of all of Potipher’s household.  Things were going well.  Let’s pick up the story today with yet another plot twist. 

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” 8 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. 9 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?” 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. 11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 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. 13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14 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. 15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” 16 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” 19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. 20 Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

Joseph, yet again, faces a hard time that he didn’t deserve.  If there is one quality that Joseph shows throughout his life it is resiliency.  No matter what happens, he maintains faith and keeps pushing on.  This is a quality that is often found lacking today.  I talk to people all the time who are ready to blame God or want to give up when life gets difficult.  Joseph is a great example for us of pushing through to see the sunshine and rainbow on the other side of the rain.  Joseph will continue to experience more rain but he never loses faith and never stops pressing on.  He knows and trusts that God has a plan for his life.  This is what keeps him strong when his circumstances are poor time and again.  I pray that we would all have the faith and resiliency of Joseph.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave