Day 12

Joseph the Slave

Read: Genesis 37-39

The Bible is a constant story of humanity’s sin and God’s grace. Once again we see tragedy resulting from the sin of parents showing favoritism toward one child over another. Joseph’s dreams were from God, but one must ask whether Joseph was not guilty of “rubbing it in” to his brothers. The brothers were certainly sinful in the hatred they allowed to grow in their hearts toward Joseph and in the way they expressed that hatred. The interlude of chapter 38 deals with the recurring theme of sexual sin, plus a terrible double standard, one for men and another for women, which has been practiced throughout history.

Yet God’s grace has a way of overruling evil for good. The result is that Joseph is in the right place at the right time to save God’s covenant people from extinction by starvation. In the meantime, Joseph has much to suffer. He is a faithful steward, but due to the false accusations of Potiphar’s wife, he is put in prison. His resistance to sexual temptation by fleeing from it is a powerful example to us. He is away from home, but he knows that God is with him, and to sin anywhere is still to sin against God. Wherever we are, we live in the presence of the God of love and holiness.

Again, in prison, the Lord was with Joseph, and the Lord caused him to prosper. Let us so live that the Lord will be with us and cause us to be successful as he measures success.

PRAYER
Father, give us grace to flee from temptation and cause us to succeed as we seek to serve you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.