Today's passage: Genesis 39:1-23
Helpful thoughts:
- Verse 1 may have sounded like a terrible situation, a prospect for suffering. Verse 2 changed all that. God was with Joseph. God made Joseph successful.
- Joseph's success and appearance attracted Potiphar's wife. Joseph rejected her advances numerous times…in fact, every time.
- When Potiphar's wife grabbed Joseph's garment, he fled. He ran.
- Joseph's garment was then used a second time (Coat of many colors) to deceive others.
- Joseph was accused and imprisoned for the very thing he had refused to do.
- With all of the highs and lows that Joseph experienced, one thing never changed, God was with him (Verses 2, 21, and 23).
Questions to consider:
- When might Joseph have easily assumed God was with him? When might Joseph have struggled to see God was with him? Did God ever leave Joseph? How can this encourage you? When is the Lord not with you (Matthew 28:20)?
- How did Potiphar's wife spin a web of deceit to trick everyone (Including Potiphar) to act against Joseph for not giving in to her wishes? Who was she really aiming to please in every situation? How do her actions reinforce the warning against the adulterous woman in Proverbs 7?
- What did Joseph need to believe and continue to remember in order to keep moving forward, serving the Lord and other people, day by day? How did he find the strength to keep going? What did he have to believe about the Lord to continue without despairing? How can this encourage us to march on? What promises has God given us in his word?