November 18th, 2011
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Success Brings Danger

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Opening Prayer

Mighty God, Your love never ends, and is with me in every moment. Speak to me in this moment, I pray.

Read GENESIS 39:1-23

[1] Now 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. [2] The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. [3] When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, [4] Joseph 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. [5] From 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. [6] So 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, [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. But while Joseph was there in the prison, [21] the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. [22] So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. [23] The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

Think about an occasion when you were the victim of a false accusation. What emotions did you feel? How did you react?

Think Further

As Potiphar and the keeper of the prison entrusted their affairs to Joseph, they benefitted from God’s blessing. No doubt they were impressed by Joseph’s administrative skills and integrity; yet, Joseph’s success was due to God’s presence. He had been badly treated by others, but God had not abandoned him and he remained committed to God. How easy it would have been for him simply to complain to God! What can we learn from Joseph’s example?

Potiphar’s wife is a woman who likes to have her own way. Day after day she persistently pursues Joseph in order to satisfy her own lust. For her, adultery is no “great wickedness,” a common, ancient Near Eastern term for adultery (see 20:9; Psa. 51:4) (9, NRSV). She clearly has no respect for her husband. Perhaps she feels secure because she has the ability to manipulate him. Observe how she skillfully twists him around her little finger as she implicates him in the affair by calling Joseph “your slave” (19). If only her husband had not been so trusting of this foreign slave, she would not have been molested by him. Not surprisingly, perhaps, Potiphar unquestioningly yields to her.

Today’s reading begins (3) and ends (23) by highlighting how God’s presence with Joseph brings him success. As a source of blessing to others, Joseph is presented here as fulfilling, in part, the divine promises given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Later in the Joseph story, many nations will come to Egypt during a time of famine and be indebted to Joseph for their survival. In this, Joseph foretells a “greater Joseph” who brings God’s blessing to all the nations of the earth.

Apply

Be encouraged that even when circumstances work against us, God works for us. How has God done that for you recently?

Closing prayer

Lord, thank You for your faithfulness in caring for me in good times and bad. May I bless others as You’ve blessed me.

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