TEXT
Genesis 39:7-12
KEY VERSE
“And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.”
Genesis 39:10, KJV
CONTEXT
Joseph had already refused Potiphar’s wife. He had already told her why he could not betray his master or sin against God. Yet she did not stop. She kept speaking to him day by day. Joseph continued to refuse her, and when she eventually seized him, he left his garment in her hand and fled.
REFLECTION
Joseph had already said no.
He had already explained why he could not do it. He knew what his master had entrusted to him, and he understood that taking his master’s wife would be a great wickedness and, ultimately, a sin against God. He knew where the matter really stood: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
You would think that should have been the end of it.
It wasn’t.
“She spake to Joseph day by day.”
There is something exhausting about those three words.
She kept speaking to him.
Joseph’s answer had not changed, but she did not stop coming back.
This is one of the difficult things about following God. Sometimes we think that because we have resisted a temptation, it should stop coming. But some battles do not end because we won yesterday. We wake up and find that we have to give the same answer again.
And again.
And again.
The danger is not always that we suddenly decide that sin is good. Sometimes we simply become tired of saying no.
But notice Joseph.
She kept speaking and he kept refusing.
He did not allow her persistence to make him reconsider what he had already settled before God.
And the text says he would not even “be with her.” Joseph was not interested in seeing how close he could get without falling. He understood that there was nothing virtuous about standing near a temptation simply to prove that he could resist it.
Most times, temptation disguises itself to appear less deadly. Being with her may have seemed harmless, but it would have brought him closer to the very thing he had already refused. From there, she could progress to lying with him.
Temptation is subtle, while sin is progressive.
So one day, the situation changed. She caught him by his garment and said, “Lie with me.”
Joseph fled.
He had nothing to prove here. He neither stayed to prove his strength nor to negotiate. He did not even wait to see how much temptation he could withstand.
He ran.
Perhaps there is something you have already settled before God, but it keeps coming back.
Do not mistake its return for permission.
You may have to say no again today. And perhaps tomorrow.
And when saying no requires you to run, then run.
Here is something very important that you need to know: the more you yield to a temptation, the more likely you are to yield when it comes again. The more you give in, the more you lose the power to say no to it. That is how besetting sin sets in, and the heart begins to become hardened around that sin.
On the other hand, the more you say no to a temptation today, the easier it becomes to say no tomorrow. However, continuing to say no day by day is not as easy as it sounds. It can only be by the grace of God.
The enemy of our souls is opportunistic and understands what persistence means. There are temptations peculiar to us, and we need to look to God for the grace to keep saying no.
You may not always be able to stop temptation from coming.
But you do not have to change your answer when it does.
Day by day.
KEY TAKEAWAY
You may have to give the same answer to the same temptation, day by day.
PRAYER
Lord, keep me faithful when temptation returns, and give me wisdom to flee when I need to.
TODAY’S CHALLENGE
Read Genesis 39:7-12 slowly. Notice how Joseph responds to the same temptation over time. Ask yourself: What have I already settled before God that I need to remain settled about today?
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