Let's Throw Some Seeds!

There was one fly in the ointment however. The Bible tells us that Joseph was a handsome young man. Somewhere in his early twenties, he caught the eye of Potiphar's wife. She was not a nice woman. She wanted Joseph to be more than an overseer of her husband's household. The Bible tells us that she lusted after Joseph. She wanted Joseph to become her secret lover. But Joseph would have nothing of the kind. He determined to stay true to his faith in God, his life of holiness and his loyalty to his master, Potiphar. He didn't want anything to do with Mrs. Potiphar. Listen to how he responds to her when she tries to seduce him:

"Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

8 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. 9 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?”10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. (Genesis 39:6b - 10)

Nevertheless, one day, Potiphar's wife lured Joseph into a situation that he could not avoid. Resisting her charms once again, he turned and ran away from her as quickly as possible. You see, Joseph's heart, mind and soul were made up. He was not going to do something against God's commandments. He was going to stay true to his faith and convictions. He was going to stay true to sowing good seeds in his life.

Scorned and rejected, Potiphar's wife quickly turned the tables on Joseph and accused him of attempted rape. If she could not have Joseph then she would destroy him or at least she thought she would destroy him. She ended up causing such a scene and an outrage that Potiphar had no recourse but to condemn Joseph to spend the rest of his life in an Egyptian prison.

Now, how many of us would have just given up? I mean, it is bad enough to be a slave but to be accused of rape and then condemned to live out the rest of your life in prison? Surely, all those good seeds Joseph had been sowing were doing nothing. If he could have heard Job's wife he might have been tempted to "curse God and die".

Yet, Joseph was not in the business of giving up. The Bible tells us that even in the midst of all of this Joseph continued to stay true to his faith in God and his daily practice of spiritual disciplines. He was determined to do his best to discover a way to make prison life bearable. If this was to be his circumstance in life, then he would find a silver lining in all of it. He would still do all he could to sow good seeds around him.

The Bible tells us that even in prison the LORD blessed Joseph. It wasn't very long until he was in charge of all the other prisoners as the head trustee. God had not left him alone. While Joseph was going through all these trials and tribulations the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY was working in the background, forming his character, providing him the education and knowledge he would one day need. God was using those seeds that Joseph was planting in his life and in the lives around him.