Spend time in prayer and silence with God asking him to meet you and speak to you.
Bible Reading
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.
The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, 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. 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. So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.
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.
One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 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.
When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 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. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.
– Genesis 39:1-19
Devotion
Temptation is not new in any sense. Temptation is the same for us today as it was for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. We have all been tempted before. It doesn’t matter who you are, temptation has come knocking at your door in some way, shape or form. Temptation acts much like a mousetrap, it waits for us in our weakness to capitalize and take advantage of us.
If we are going to be victorious over temptation, we must do what Joseph did when Potiphar’s wife attempted to seduce him: just say no. When you are tempted to do wrong this week, just say no. However, Joseph said no out of his desire to please God. “How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God” (v. 9). Joseph’s motivation to avoid temptation was to keep his relationship with God strong. Joseph remembered who he was so that he was able to do what he needed to do to please God. He remembered that he belonged to God! If you want to win the battle against temptation, you must remember who you are and whose you are!
The Big Question
It is hard to avoid temptation when you are caught in the midst of it, but you can do it. Joseph ran and left his shirt behind! What can you do to arm yourself with the tools to avoid temptation next time you come up against it?
Conclude in prayer and silence reflecting on what you’ve learned.