"Being with God"(Genesis 39:2-9)

 

Genesis 39:2-9

 

Joseph had a difficult life, but God also blessed him. The reason Joseph had a blessed life was because the Lord was with Joseph.

 

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

Genesis 39:2 ESV

 

We need to be aware of the blessing and how to respond to the blessing.

 

The first blessing is that Joseph was successful in everything he did. Everyone understood that it was God that made Joseph successful. The Egyptians had idols and their false gods, but Lord God was the God of Joseph and not the Egyptians. Joseph must of made it clear Whom he worshipped and attributed his success to.

 

His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.

Genesis 39:3 ESV

 

Joseph took the time to make everyone know that it was God who gave him the success.

 

In the past in the South Korea, if someone was a Christian,  they had a good reputation. Nowadays, Christians have a bad reputation. Christians may feel it is not good to reveal their beliefs. They hesitate to talk about their faith or show their practices. Joseph did not care what others think, he only cared what God thought. Joseph knew where his blessings came and made it known that is was God who blessed him.

 

We can bless everything around us.

 

So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field.

Genesis 39:4-5 ESV

 

However, not everyone is interested in blessing everyone around us. We are more interested in our own blessings and less about serving others. We need to be aware that God's blessings can flow from us to others and bless them. God's love can flow from us to others, and they too can experience God's love.

 

We do not make decisions about who deserves to be blessed by God or not to be blessed. We should not judge and condemn those to be punished by God. We should allow God's blessings flow from us to all. No one is too wicked to be ignored by God's love.

 

So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”

Genesis 39:6-9 ESV

 

Although Joseph was a slave, Potiphar made Joseph the steward of Potiphar’s entire household. Joseph was still under the authority of Potiphar and God. We need to be under the authority of man but more importantly under the authority of God.

 

Both Daniel and Joseph faced temptation. Joseph did not sin against his worldly master and yet Daniel did and God rescued both of them. This is because both Daniel and Joseph saw the importance of putting God’s laws and interests before everything else. We cannot blindly follow worldly authority, when we choose to not follow, we will face consequences, but we will face harsher consequences when we choose not to follow God.

 

Let us be like Joseph and give God credit when we have any success and be bold and let others know that we have the Lord God who loves us and blesses us, so that we can love and bless others.