All Beholding Beauty devotionals are written as short, worshipful reflections to help you meditate on God’s Word.
“Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. 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. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.” – Genesis 39:6-10
It is true that the Bible was not graciously given to us so that we could read about good people performing good deeds so that we can follow their good example. If that were the case, Christianity would be merely a religion of morality.
Instead, the Bible is about a good (perfectly good!) Savior who came to rescue people whose best deeds are still tainted with evil. With that being said, we certainly don’t need to downplay the examples of godly obedience.
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The Lord commands His people to be holy as He is holy (Leviticus 11:44), and Jesus tells us that we will keep His commandments if we truly love Him (John 14:15). With that hopefully being made clear, I want to rejoice over the beautiful example that Joseph provides for us in this story in Genesis 39.
Notice that Joseph was described as “handsome in appearance.” The wife of Joseph’s master, Potiphar, certainly noticed, and she desired to have a sexual relationship with him behind her husband’s back (i.e. adultery). Joseph had many chances to give in to this temptation. Could you imagine the thoughts that he may have dealt with? Do you think that he, like us, considered giving in to temptation on a daily basis?
Whatever Joseph dealt with, we know what he decided to do. He chose to honor his earthly master, Potiphar, as well as his heavenly Master, the Lord. Joseph knew that it would be considered a great wickedness to sleep with Potiphar’s wife, and he decided that wronging his master and, most of all, sinning against God, was not worth it! He valued the Lord above all else and counted it as more important to remain faithful to His God than to give in to a moment of earthly pleasure.
Just imagine how different Joseph’s legacy would be if he had given in to that temptation? Instead of writing about him as a good example of faithfulness to the Lord, we would be viewing him as a “what-not-to-do” example. The Lord’s goodness and beauty had been made very evident to Joseph, and that created a desire in Joseph to stay faithful to his God and to live a life of obedience to Him.
In Christ, we are fully forgiven of all our sins, and we are even cleansed of our sins when we confess them to our holy God (1 John 1:8-9). But obedience of God’s ways (law) is never to be separated from God’s grace and forgiveness (Gospel).
May we seek to live lives of holiness that honor our great God, saying no to temptation just as Joseph did in this story, and just as our Lord did in the wilderness as Satan tempted Him. He is worthy of our obedience!
Matt became a joyful follower of Jesus at the age of 21. He is very grateful to be a husband to Lindsey, and a father to four boys. He is an ordained minister (teaching elder) in the PCA. He previously served as a pastor of biblical counseling and is currently a corporate chaplain in southern Delaware. Matt received his Master of Divinity degree in Biblical Counseling from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and holds an advanced certification in biblical counseling from the Association of Biblical Counselors. In his free time, he loves playing with his boys, traveling with his wife, and reading (and buying!) books.
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