What To Do When Your Breakthrough Does Not Come Through

Genesis 40:9-15, 20-21, 23

Topic: What to do when your breakthrough don’t come through

In these passage of scriptures of Genesis 40-41, we read about a man named Joseph. Joseph was one of the 12 sons of Jacob; in matter of fact, Joseph was the 11th son of Jacob(Israel).

Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob because he was born in Jacob’s old age. The way that Jacob showed Joseph that he was his favorite son was that he gave him a coat of many colors to signify his love and favoritism for Joseph.

And because Jacob favored Joseph over all the other sons he had, Joseph was extremely hated by his brothers. They envied him and they were fiercely jealous of him to the point that they could not say anything good to him in his face. But Joseph didn’t make it any better for himself, especially when he had told his brothers about a dream that he had. He told them that he was going to be a ruler someday and they was going to bow down to them. Oh that made Joseph’s brothers mad! They became so enraged toward Joseph that they even plotted to kill him. In matter of fact, when Jacob had sent Joseph to check on his brothers while they were tending their sheep in a place far away from home, his brothers had beat him up, and threw him in a waterless pit with the intent to kill him later on that day. But instead they changed their mind when they saw a group of Midianites traveling nearby and they sold Joseph to the Midianites for 20 pieces of silver. And the Midianites took Joseph to Egypt and sold him as a slave to a man named Potiphar who was an officer of Pharoah, and a captain of the guard.

Yes, it was tough on Joseph being hated by his brothers, beat up by his brothers, thrown into the pit by his brothers, and sold into slavery by his brothers. But the bible says that even though Joseph was extremely hated by his brothers, beat up by his brothers, thrown into the pit and sold into slavery by his brothers, and was brought down to Egypt as a slave to serve a man named Potiphar, the scriptures says in Gen 39:2 -5 that "the Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man. he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hands. And Joseph found grace in his sight and he served him; and he made him a overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hands."

God had blessed Joseph despite of his difficult situation. God helped Joseph turned his difficult situation into a blessed situation because the scripture says while Joseph served Potiphar, God blessed Potiphar household for Joseph’s sake. And when Potiphar saw how God was blessing his household for Joseph’s sake, he put Joseph in charge over everything in the house, except for what he ate and his wife.

But while Joseph was being prosperous as a slave in Potiphar’s house, he ran into some problems. The problem was Potiphar’s wife. The scriptures says in Genesis 39:6 that that Joseph was a goodly person and well favored, in other words, Joseph was a good looking handsome young man. And being that Joseph was a good looking handsome young man, Potiphar’s wife liked what she saw. She had a fatal attraction to Joseph. Yes, she is a married woman, but yet she still wanted to fool around with Joseph. So one day while Joseph was just minding his own business, and taking care of business, Potiphar’s wife asked in Genesis 39:7 Joseph to "lie with me." In other words, Potiphar’s wife was issuing Joseph a indecent proposal, but somebody else said that was a booty call." But in Genesis 39:8-9, it says that Joseph told her, NO! Now it must be understood why Joseph refused Potiphars sexual advances:

It wasn’t because she wasn’t fine(because she was fine),

It wasn’t because of the possible age difference between the two of them (remember Joseph was 17 years old at this time)

It wasn’t because he was gay(because he wasn’t),

It wasn’t because he might get her pregnant(despite of the fact that condoms didn’t exist during that day and time),

It wasn’t because he might get a disease

But it was because she was married to Potiphar and to mess around with her like that would be a sin and wicked. In other words, Joseph was telling Potiphar’s wife that he was not going to mess his life up over a booty call. If I was to do a sermon on this story, I would entitled that sermon, "Don’t lose it all on a booty call." But yet the scriptures in Genesis 39:10 says even after Joseph had turned down Potiphar’s wife sexual advances, she still kept harassing him,(In today times, we would say she kept texting him, sending him e-mails, or showing up unannounced at his job) trying to get him to go to bed with her, and each time, Joseph would refuse and he did everything in his power to avoid any contact with her. But one day while Joseph was walking in the house checking things out and minding his own business, Potiphar’s wife grabbed him by his garment and said, Lie with me, but Joseph ran out of the house quick, and left his garment in Potiphar’s wife hand. And when she saw how she was scorned and rejected, she lied and said that Joseph tried to rape her. And when she told her husband that Joseph had tried to take advantage of her sexually, Joseph was put into prison without a trial. But in Genesis 39:21-23 says, "But the Lord was with Joseph(despite what he was going through the Lord was with Joseph all the way), and shewed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand; because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper."