Tempted Series

Last week we left our new friend Joseph on a slow moving caravan towards Egypt with a bunch of Midianites.

His brothers had taken his blood soaked coat back top Jacob and old dad was convinced that he was dead, and even his brothers no doubt felt that he was gone for good from their life. They had felt good for their revenge, they jealousy appetite had been appeased!

But what they didn’t know was that Joseph was still alive, in fact, very much alive!

Let’s look now at genesis chapter 39 and work our way thru the events that occurred to Joseph in this scripture setting.

1 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.

Ever had a day go bad? Talk about a strange turn of events…last week we watched obedient Joseph go run an errand for his father, nothing complicated, just go check on your brothers and come back and let me know how things are going. But rather than things going as planned, he is ripped of his coat, tossed in a pit, then drug back out and sold for a slave. From there things no doubt got even worse…he goes to the auction block, but that day at the auction there sat Potiphar!

Potiphar was a military man, he was appointed the captain of the guards, and some even believe that he was the director of the execution department for the military.

Scripture doesn’t tell us why, but for some reason Potiphar likes what he sees in Joseph, makes his bid, and acquires ownership of Joseph as his new slave.

Most might think that this would be the last time anyone would ever hear about Joseph. But…not only are we going to hear how he survives we are in store for quite a ride with this guy for one reason and one reason only …look at verse’s 2-6

2 The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, 4 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. 5 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. 6 So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,

Did you catch the reason for his success?

“ The LORD was with Joseph” God had not forgotten Joseph, even in the bottom of the pit…even on the wagon ride back to Egypt…no Joseph was Gods son and all the while, despite the circumstance God knew where Joseph was…OH dear hurting heart this morning …God knows where you are!

But there is an interesting little twist found in verse 3 did you catch it…

When his master saw that the LORD was with him.

Joseph didn’t have to go tell old Potiphar “hey by the way I am a Christian …yea honesty I really am” No…Potiphar could see it for himself. Aren’t you glad that God can do such a work in your life that others can see it?

Additionally Joseph didn’t use his spirituality as a manipulative tool to get the promotion from his boss. Rather it all came about simply because the Lord was with Joseph and the lord caused him to prosper!

HE ends up finding himself second in command in Potiphars house, not bad for a guy who was thought to be sold as a common slave. But this was only the beginning of gods plan for Joseph’s life!

But here comes the meat of this message, catch this friend…With greater success comes a greater measure of trust, which often leads to a greater time of vulnerability.

Josephs was certainly prospering. Potiphar had left everything in his charge, his schedule, his finances, his estate….everything…All seemed to be going great for this little brother, oh church see how this is setting up…just when we think all is well…whoosh out of nowhere the enemy shows up!

Look at the last part of verse 6...something here is about to happen…

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome…

Nothing wrong with being in shape…nothing wrong wit being on the cover of GQ…but with these attributes came an opportunity for temptation…in fact scripture wastes no time in telling us what happened, and apparently neither did potiphars wife…look at that next verse…