Tough Choices: Genesis 39.1-20

 

We make tough choices in life.  Kids are making more crucial choices about lunchtime because in this season kids take their lunch to school and have to social distance while they eat.  When you choose your lunch you’re locked in.  You can’t trade food.  Kids make that tough choice in the morning and then at lunch there’s another dilemma: What do I eat first?  Do I eat the healthy food first?  Some choices are more difficult than others and we don’t always know what to do. 

In Genesis 39 Joseph will have to make difficult choices.  Joseph is at a place in his life where he’s living as a slave and it’s no fault of his own.  Joseph is in Egypt and everything in his life is different than what he thought it would be.  Joseph’s life is going in the opposite direction from what God has spoken over him.  His life was not highly valued. 

Keep life sacred when the world doesn’t care.

Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers.  Joseph is taken against his will and he doesn’t have a say over what’s happening.  There are times in our lives when we have no say over what’s happening; sometimes we have no voice. 

                    ¹Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. 

Joseph is sold to a high official in Egypt.  Life could have gone a lot different.  This sets up what we know will happen.  Notice Joseph is in a different category than other slaves.  From the standpoint of the Egyptians Joseph is no more than a household appliance.  Joseph is just an object, a convenience for their household.  The Ishmaelites were cousins of Jacob’s family and they’re providing the market to purchase slaves.  Human life is reduced in value.  The value of human life is reduced today as well.  A few years ago we hosted a speaker named, Gianna Jessen, a rare survivor of abortion.  She shared with us about what God has done in her life.  Every time Gianna speaks she reminds the world how precious life is. 

The way Joseph reacts and responds is he refuses to allow his circumstances to degrade him.  It’s important to value human life.  When Jesus came He raised the value of human life.  Every person has value.  Joseph is a slave in Potiphar’s house.  He rises quickly in this household.  God is still working in Joseph’s life.  Even in circumstances like this God is with you.  Joseph will remain a slave.  By the end of this passage things for Joseph will get worse.  Joseph recognizes God is with him.  We often link our circumstances to whether God is with us or not.  God is with Joseph even in the darkest of times. 

Know that God is with you even if your circumstances stay the same.

                    ²The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 

Notice by the end of verse 2 that the circumstances haven’t changed but God is with Joseph.  Joseph knows God’s presence even in bad circumstances.  Most slaves worked in fields.  Those who worked in the households had a higher level of education.  Joseph is a unique slave that was successful because God was with him.  We should pray for deliverance, but sometimes God does not deliver.  Some Christians become martyrs and suffer greatly.  This doesn’t mean they are weak believers or that they sinned.  They are stronger believers because they are faithful in these circumstances.  God doesn’t always change our circumstances.  T would have been easy for Joseph to abandon hope.  Joseph was to take over the family fortune and now he’s a slave.  With all this change we see a great hope in Joseph’s life; hope is essential to life, knowing God is with us.  Joseph never loses hope.  It’s like a child who wants the big cup, and wants it full.  We know there’s no way they can drink all that’s in that cup.  Why do they want the big cup?  Children are hopeful.  Joseph maintains this hope.  It’s easy for us to lose hope in our circumstances.  We have the most hopeful story, our Savior.  When Jesus died on the cross they placed his body in a tomb with a stone rolled in front of it.  It was as final as death can be.  We know Sunday’s coming.  That stone is no obstacle for the King of Kings!  We have Jesus and Joseph maintains this kind of hope.  Joseph’s story takes a turn here.

Be careful with people who reduce your value.

            Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. 7And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.

This description of Joseph is similar to how his mother Rachel is described, beautiful in form and appearance, handsome.  We wouldn’t know about this if it wasn’t spelled out for us.  Joseph is a spiritual follower of God, a leader.  We know he’s well rounded.  At the end of verses 6-7 Joseph’s value is reduced.  When Potiphar’s wife speaks about him she speaks just about how he looks.  She knows there’s other things about him.  A household like this was like a medium sized business.  There were other slaves and it was like an enterprise to run.  Joseph was entrusted to a lot of resources.  There’s a lot to Joseph but now he’s reduced to his physical appearance.  We call this objectifying.  We usually speak of men objectifying women, but it can happen both ways.  When a person doesn’t see all of us it should be a warning sign.  People can view us as disposable.  Potiphar’s wife doesn’t value Joseph as a whole person.  Who are the people in your life that truly value you? Love you? Care for you?  What do we do with things we don’t value greatly?  They’re disposable.  When we do through a drive through at a restaurant we know the item’s we’re given are not meant for forever.  Iced tea cups at the end of our meal will be thrown away.  Potiphar’s wife is saying good things about Joseph, trying to entice him.  She’s magnifying one part of his life.  Later on she will call him, “that Hebrew slave,” just a few verses later.  This is a pattern people follow in our lives.  Joseph sees this and responds in the right way even though it won’t go well for him.

 Do the right thing for the right reason.

Joseph has three responses; he’s been propositioned by Potiphar’s wife. He declines her for three reasons:

1)     It would be a betrayal of trust.

2)     A moral reasons – she has a husband and it’s not ethical.

3)     A spiritual reason – this is a sin against God.

We haven’t heard a lot about Joseph’s beliefs, but if anyone had reason to abandon his faith it was Joseph.  Joseph heard stories of his great grandfather Abraham, of Israel and Rebekah, Jacob and Noah.  All these are stories of who God is. 

                    ⁹He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? 

Joseph gives us the three reasons in verse 9 and lastly he asks, “How can I do this against God?”  Will Joseph do the right thing when he has every reason not to follow God?

We teach our children to do the right thing.  We teach them when you do the right things good things will happen.  As a kid, my sister, who is two years older than me, were told if we were good at the bank we’d get candy from the teller.  Tellers always had candy!  We’d make sure the teller noticed us and noticed that we were being good.  In Joseph’s life, sometimes when he does the right thing he gets consequences and this can be the same for us.  Sometimes we make difficult choices.  Joseph makes the right decision and is thrown in prison.  He’s betrayed by Potiphar’s wife and she discards him.  She claims Joseph was the one who propositioned her. 

             ²⁰And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison.

If Joseph’s life couldn’t get worse, it did.  He’s now gone from being a slave to being a prisoner, but there’s still hope and light because he’s put in the King’s prison.  Typically a slave would have been executed, but he’s in the King’s prison.  This is the second time Joseph’s life has been preserved.  We know the story, so we know God is still working in Joseph’s life.  There are many things that don’t go well in his life.  It’s puzzling to us, but we see first-hand the sovereignty of God.  God guides Joseph on a path.  Janet mentioned in her children’s sermon that Scripture can be like a blueprint for our lives.  We think it’s all planned out and we have to follow it exactly or we mess it up.  It’s like putting together furniture from IKEA; if you miss a step it won’t work out.  We’re afraid we’ll mess up our lives.  We can see God’s bigger picture for Joseph’s life.  It’s like making a cake with grandma.  Everything doesn’t have to be exactly as planned and it will still be a good cake.  All Joseph knows is that life keeps getting worse.  God is with you when life keeps getting worse.  God is with you when life is messed up.  You may be facing some tough choices.  God is with us in our choices.  God is capable, willing and able to rewrite the stories of our lives.  Can you pray, “God, I don’t know what to do.  Help me to trust You.  God, will you forgive me for my sin?”  You can trust God with your life.

Sermon Notes are taken, transcribed and posted by Jeni Martin Johnson.