Tehillah Generation Chapel
Daily Manna | Thursday, September 13, 2018 | Topic: Conscience 123
Scripture: And when they saw Joseph afar off, even before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him. Genesis 37:18
Note: One of the secrets of Joseph’s success in life was the fact that he had a personal relationship with Yahweh, thus, God was with him. Brought up in line with the patriarchal covenant with Yahweh beginning with Abraham through Isaac and then his father, Jacob, Joseph was not like the normal teenagers of today who would readily sacrifice their covenant relationship with God for temporary sexual gratification. Joseph’s reverence for God was what strengthened him in his resolve not to yield to the seducing manoeuvres of Potiphar’s wife. To Joseph, it was both wickedness against Potiphar and most importantly, sin against God (Gen 39:9).
Many youth of today unlike Joseph, are sacrificing their destiny in exchange for cheap sexual gratification, binge drinking of alcohol, addiction to the deceptive indulgence and fantasy of drugs, enslaving themselves and their destinies in the traps and confines of low life peer pressure, succumbing to the identity crisis of acceptance for our time, where acceptance by peers and partners in crime are deemed more trendy above that of parents, pastors and school teachers, and deceptively branded as the in-thing to look more appealing and fashionable. Many have thus, lost their way, their career, their hopes and their future to mediocrity, abandoning themselves to a low life of hopelessness, destruction and death.
Joseph cherished his integrity and fear of God in his personal walk with God. These abiding principles and values, bound in his heart from teachings obtained from his father and forefathers, were not values that he was prepared to sacrifice for momentary bouts of pleasure. To Joseph, demonstrating these values was the same, irrespective of whether he was in the safe confines of his dad or in the enslaved environment of Potiphar’s home. Joseph didn’t need his boss to be around for him to demonstrate his faithfulness to him. Joseph didn’t need the presence of other servants of the household in order to show his loyalty, commitment and faithfulness to his boss. The value was the same.
To Joseph, the favourable, cozy environment that was created for his seduction by Potiphar’s wife made no difference to his principles and values. To him, the presence of Yahweh through all the changing scenes of his life, far outweighed the presence or absence of anyone else in his environment. Faithfulness, commitment and loyalty to Yahweh should not be dependent on favourable weather or a cozy environment that favoured sinning without getting caught. What Potiphar’s wife didn’t know about Joseph was that it wasn’t her beauty that Joseph rejected, nor the non effectiveness of her seducing tricks she deployed, and neither was it the undue advantage of the enormous civil power that she wielded over Joseph that mattered. It was about Yahweh, His honour and His glory.
Food for thought: When God is put at the centre of our lives where He truly belongs, humanistic reasons, lame excuses, relativism and pacifism for what we do and why we do what we do, will all die a natural death.
Declaration: There is none greater in this house than I; neither has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
©Author: Rev Fred Aboe
