Everyday Gospel: A Daily Devotional Connecting Scripture to All of LifeExemplo

Do we love our Lord so much that we are always willing to run from the temptation to do what is wrong in his eyes, no matter what the consequences may be?

The story of Joseph would make the best dramatic and engaging Netflix series ever: a proud favorite son of his very important father is deceived and sold into slavery by his brothers, bought by an officer of Pharaoh, and given success by God and is now an overseer. What an incredible story! But the plot is about to thicken. The Egyptian officer’s wife takes a liking to Joseph. He is a handsome, brilliant, and successful man. She is so bold as to ask Joseph to have sex with her. Now, it is clear that this situation is going to go nowhere good. If she’s after Joseph, she will continue to tempt him, and if he continues to resist, she has the power in her anger to do him harm. One day she grabs Joseph by his robe to force him to be with her, and he resists and runs, leaving his robe behind. She uses the robe as evidence that Joseph was trying to seduce her, and as a result, Joseph ends up in prison (Gen. 39).

What a picture of life in a fallen world. Even when your heart is in the right place, you will be greeted with temptation. Even when you are experiencing God’s blessing on your life and work, the seductive voice of temptation will try to woo you into crossing God’s holy boundaries. We will be free from temptation only when we are on the other side, residents of the new heavens and new earth where peace and righteousness rule forever and ever.

Joseph explains to Potiphar’s wife why he could never think of having a physical relationship with her. His words move and convict me: “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). What empowered Joseph to say no was not just his relationship to Potiphar, not just his thankfulness for what Potiphar had done for him, and not just his sense of responsibility as overseer of this officer’s house. No, Joseph had a deeper and more powerful motivation: the depth of his fear of God. I don’t mean terror of God’s judgment, but rather a life-shaping awe of and loyalty to God. Joseph was able to say no because he couldn’t conceive of doing such a wicked thing against the God who was with him and had blessed him so abundantly.

There is a connection between the depth of our fear of God and the strength of our resistance against temptation. When fear (life-shaping awe) of the Lord rules our hearts, we will resist temptation no matter what the consequences of our resistance may be. May we cry out for grace to fear the Lord more than we fear man. May we pray for help so that we would love our Lord more than we love a comfortable life. And may we believe that hardships that come because we have said no to sin are never the end of the story. They surely weren’t for Joseph.

For further study and encouragement: Proverbs 16:6