4 Minute Read

TODAY’S BIBLE READING:

Genesis 39:1–41:16
Matthew 12:46–13:23
Psalm 17:1-15
Proverbs 3:33-35

TODAY’S BIBLE VERSE(S):

Genesis 39:9 (CSB) “No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do this immense evil, and how could I sin against God?”

REFLECTIONS ON TODAY’S BIBLE VERSE(S):

The words in our Verse for Today were spoken by a man of impeccable integrity.

Joseph was standing before his master’s wife. She had just asked him to have sex with her. In fact, she had been speaking with him about this for a lengthy period of time.

So he had a choice to make: 1) he could either submit to his master’s wife and accommodate her, or 2) he could deny his master’s wife’s request and suffer some dire consequences.

He chose the second option with its corresponding consequences.

But it’s interesting to try to understand someone’s motives for why they made a certain choice.

Why did Joseph deny his master’s wife’s sinful request? Was it simply because he was afraid of getting caught?

Genesis 39:9 (CSB) “No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do this immense evil, and how could I sin against God?”

When we listen to our Verse for Today, we hear the logic of a man of incredible integrity. His motive, his reason for denying her sinful request was: 1) he could not possibly bring himself to abuse his master’s trust in him, 2) he recognized the act as being immensely evil, and 3) he couldn’t bear to violate God’s command and break His heart.

Restated, Joseph was motivated to abstain from sin because…

  • His master trusted him and he was not going to abuse that trust.
  • Adultery was immensely evil and he was not going to engage in it.
  • Adultery was abhorrent to God and he was not going to violate His God’s design for marriage and sex.

Notice that none of these motives had anything to do with the fear of being caught. If Joseph was simply afraid of being caught, he might have engaged in what was wrong if he thought he could have gotten away with it.

But his motive was much more powerful. It kept him from doing what was wrong even thought the sinful act might have been kept a secret.

It would do us well to look over the three primary motivations that kept Joseph from sin. We would do well to claim them as our own motives for refusing to engage in what God has forbidden.

  • Don’t abuse the trust others have in us.
  • See sin as being utterly, immensely evil.
  • Refuse to break God’s heart by breaking His commands.

Maybe, just maybe, God might bless us for our integrity like he blessed Joseph and many others for their obedience.

Advertisement