A PURPOSEFUL LIFE; OLD TESTAMENT STORIES
FROM THE PIT TO THE PALACE
PART IX
"I, Joseph, have been having some very difficult challenges lately... My master Potiphar's wife has been asking me to be with her... I wonder why that is... Is God trying to test me?.... If that is so, what would be the reason He is trying to test me?..... Is He preparing me for something that I do not yet know about?... Are these tests to get me ready for what God has for me next?... Is He perhaps getting me ready to go back to my family?... I am not sure what these tests are all about... One thing is sure, though... I do not want to give in to them....I could do so... For no one would ever know about it... Certainly my family in Canaan would never know about it... But my God would know about it... My master's wife may not understand why I cannot do what she keeps asking me to do... But my God understands that what she is asking of me is wrong... And I must please Him... As I must please my master."... Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn that Joseph's character is being tested...
ATTACHMENT A PURPOSEFUL LIFE; OLD TESTAMENT STORIES
FROM THE PIT TO THE PALACE
PART IX
Like Joseph, you may find yourself in circumstances you would not have chosen, if you had been given a choice. However, God wants you to know that He is with you even in these circumstances and that He is teaching you things you would not otherwise learn. Perhaps you have been asking God for a change in your circumstances, believing that He will answer your prayers. Joseph's circumstances are changed by God, Who all along has been watching the progress of Joseph. Yet God knows that there are still issues in his life that need to be dealt with and that further training is required to make that happen so God designs a plan whereby Joseph does indeed leave Potiphar's home. However, his destination is not Jacob's tent. Let's read Genesis 39:6b-10 to find out what situation Joseph has begun to face.
Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me." 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. 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?" And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
God is testing Josephs character and so far he is doing well. But is he able to continue to withstand the temptation offered to him? After all, no one from his family back in Canaan will ever find out if he gives in and serves the wife of his master in she way she desires....
Read Part Ten HERE
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