Success

DEVOTION

GENESIS

SUCCESS

Gen 39:11-23

11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. 13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14 she called her household servants. "Look," she said to them, "this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house." 16 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she told him this story: "That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house." 19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, "This is how your slave treated me," he burned with anger. 20 Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

NIV

Evil strikes at the heart of goodness and seemingly wins. That is the key word here, seemingly. Although Potiphar’s wife was filled with lust for Joseph, he continued to refuse to be near her, to give in to her temptations. There is no other way to describe her other than evil. Evil always attempts to strike at the heart of goodness, to corrupt it. She could not get her way with him so when the opportunity was there, with no other servants in the house, she sought him out and grabbed at him, but only took hold of his cloak. When he escaped her attempt he left his cloak behind. Here the saying from William Congreve applies, “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell like a woman scorned." Because of her being scorned, rejected as it were, she then turned on him and accused him of attempted rape. Potiphar surely believed his wife. We do not know if Joseph even made an attempt to defend himself. Had he done so, it would have been at the expense of his master’s wife. It would make sense he made no such defense, being a man of honor, having a heart of goodness. So he ends up in jail, and again having the Lord with him, he turns a bad situation into a good one. The Lord influenced the heart of the prison warden. He saw the goodness within Joseph and made him in charge of the prison. In essence Joseph became the acting warden. Looking back on the evil which struck at the heart of goodness, we find that it only seemingly won. For here we see because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. Goodness won over evil and it does so every time. Evil strikes at our hearts as well. Although we are told the heart of man is bent toward evil all the time, which is the heart of man without the Lord. Those are the hearts who have turned or refused the grace of God. Because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, because he dwells within us and because of the grace of God, which is defined as the divine influence upon our hearts, we have hearts of goodness. Evil strikes at our heart in an attempt to corrupt it and it does so all the time. Evil never takes a vacation, it never rests. It works all day every day. But the Lord is with us and we will overcome because of that one fact. Everything we do, we will find success, because the Lord is with us. Now this could certainly apply to our day to day living. This is not to say we will all become millionaires. But that all we do we will have success because the Lord is with us. If our calling is to be a janitor we will be the best janitor everyone has ever seen. If our job is vacuuming swimming pools, no one will ever do it better than us. If we have been called to be a teacher, we will shine above all others because the Lord is with us. We are his servants, and as such we bring honor and glory onto him. Joseph took no glory, no credit for his success, he just did what he did, and was successful as a servant, as a prisoner because of a heart that was influenced by God. Although it is true many in this world find what appears to be a greater advancement in business, if their hearts are turned from God, it matters not. What we need to focus on is what we have been lead to do, in business, in relationships, in fellowships. Whatever God has called us to be, to do, we will find success in it for the Lord is with us.