Back to Joseph
We now return back to Joseph in Genesis 39. Here we begin to see a story that
demonstrates Joseph as a character who ultimately believes in God’s
sovereignty. Because Joseph is faithful
to God, God is with all that Joseph does.
But even here in this story, notice that Joseph’s life is not easy – and
certainly not simple!
Obedience
Joseph is about following God’s ways. He knows that it is absolutely wrong to have
sex with Potiphar’s wife. Notice just
how much this automatically sets up a contrast with Judah from the prior
chapter. Joseph is obedient to God with
respect to human sexuality; Judah is out marrying Canaanites and looking for
prostitutes.
Yet, this lifestyle ultimately lands Joseph in prison in
spite of the fact that he did nothing wrong.
It is Joseph’s purity and refusal to have sex with her that lands Joseph
in the cross-hairs of Potiphar’s wife.
That is often the way it is in this world. It is difficult to stand up for one’s
morality and ethics when the world would rather have us compromise them. Sometimes the world gives problems to those
who act ethically because the ethical actions of one only causes to illustrate the
unethical nature of the other. It is
precisely this reality that lands Joseph in prison.
God’s Love
Yet notice that God does not abandon Joseph because he is in
prison. So often we think of prison as
the place where bad and evil people go. Often,
that is indeed the reality. However, God
does not judge a person based on whether or not they have been in prison. God judges a person based on whether or not
they love Him. Joseph may have been an
inmate, but he was an inmate that God could love because it was his innocence
and purity that got him there! Is it not
better to have caught the hatred of the world and retained the love of God than
the other way around?
Leaving Behind Items of Personal Value
I do enjoy the irony of the “leaving behind the cloak
incident.” In the prior chapter, Judah
willingly gave Tamar his ring and staff and Tamar rightly used it to identify him
and convict Judah in his sin. Here,
Joseph is surprised by Potiphar’s wife and leaves his cloak behind although he
has done nothing wrong. Potiphar’s wife
then uses that accidentally left cloak as proof of something that never
happened. The irony between the two
contrasting stories should not be ignored.
It also should remind us that sometimes the natural
conclusion is the correct one – as in the case of Judah – and sometimes the
natural conclusion is nowhere near the truth – as with Joseph. We are always in danger of jumping to wrong
conclusions even when the evidence seems all-to-clear. We must be careful when determining fault to
be sure.
Path to Great Leadership
There are three lessons that Joseph learns in this chapter –
lessons that he needs to learn in order to be a great leader. These are lessons that he probably would have
never learned had he been able to stay underneath Jacob’s sheltering from the
real world.
- First, Joseph learns how to be a servant in Potiphar’s house. He learns how to let other people be in charge and how to respect their authority while acting underneath it.
- Second, Joseph learns how to stay true to his character even when the world wants him to compromise his ethics.
- Third, Joseph learns one of the hardest lessons of life: people who never undergo suffering have a hard time developing character. How true is it the wisdom is learned from mistakes and character is best developed out of persecution?
If we think about our lives, most of us will say that it is
when the chips were down that we learned the most about ourselves and about the
glory of God. Most of us can admit that
it is when we are faced with a tough decision that we truly learn to value the
insight of faithful people and especially God’s Word. I am willing to bet that Joseph’s time in
prison may not have been enjoyable, but as we shall see it did help develop him
into a strong leader and it will teach him to trust in God’s sovereignty.
Indeed, Joseph is a strong man of faith because he
successfully undergoes a tremendous amount of suffering and never loses sight
of God in the process. Joseph’s identity
is solidly rooted in God in spite of the persecution by which he finds himself
surrounded. He is an awesome example of
a man developing character in a very realistic and approachable way.
Although I do not desire this to be a pronouncement of
suffering on those who read this, I do pray that whatever suffering you do
endure would bring you to a greater place of trust in God. May we all learn the lessons of Joseph here:
a servant nature, a strong ethical stance, and faith through endurance of
suffering.
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