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

There are two stories here, one to warn us of and one to encourage us. The problem, or the warning has to do, at least on the surface, is a woman scorned who will seek revenge because it looked like that was the end of Joseph’s good success or good fortune. However, how is this a warning for us? Because Joseph knew the wife of Potiphar wanted to bed him, and kept after him day after day, he should have stayed as far away from her as possible and never have been in her presence without another slave, if that were any, which we believe a wealthy man such as Potiphar would have more then one slave. The warning is that we should stay away from that which could cause us spiritual harm. This could be seen in so many ways it would be difficult to deal with in just a short devotion. We know our weaknesses and our propensity to sin, so we need to always be on the defensive against those areas of our weaknesses. God has given his armor to dress in, which includes that famous shield of faith, that can and will extinguish those flaming arrows. Joseph was shot with one of those arrows and he ended up in prison although he trusted God. However, there was a plan afoot by the Almighty and even with Joseph being cast into prison the Lord was with him. This is our second story. It does not matter the circumstances we find ourselves in because God always has a plan, a purpose for our lives. Although Joseph was put in prison, the Lord was with him and showed him kindness, and granted him favor in the eyes of the warden. Soon, Joseph was in charge and the warden no longer paid any attention to his duty, as Joseph was successful in whatever he did. The key to encouragement for us is our devotion and trust in the Lord. When we are in the hands of our Lord, and when we are attentive to the Spirit within, we can be sure the purpose of God will be accomplished in our lives, and because the Lord is with us, watching over us, guiding us on the path toward his purpose we will be successful in all we do. We need to be careful not to look to other schemes that could gain us a portion of this world, but pay attention to how we can progress within the kingdom of God, or for the kingdom’s sake. Joseph was never shy about speaking of his God, and believing God would see the dreams he gave him come to fruition. Joseph must have continued to hope in God, as he continued to see the blessing of God in all he did. This is our story, we have hope in our Lord, and we have watched him over the years of our lives, blessing us over and over again. Have we had our difficulties? Sure, so did Joseph, ups and downs, over and over again, but we cannot ever give into despair, or disbelief that God has a plan for our lives, and He is the one who decided the plan for each one of us, putting us along the path according to His purpose. We believe as long as we are walking on the path, following the direction given to us, we will prosper in all we do for the kingdom. The key to everything in our lives is that the Lord is with us.