January 19 

Resist

Today’s Scripture Readings: Psalms 11:1-7; Genesis 39:1-41:16; Matthew 12:46-13:23; Proverbs 3:33-35

Today’s Scripture Focus: Genesis 39:1-41:16

“Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he refused.

“How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:6-7 and 9, NIV).

“Come to bed with me!” she says. How would he respond to the unexpected advance of his master’s wife? How would Joseph deal with temptation?

Instead of giving in to the passion of the moment, he looked at the situation rationally and righteously. His split second decision made the difference between falling into sin and standing strong as a righteous man.

Joseph resisted temptation because he looked at the situation rationally (8,9). He knew that he was a steward of his master’s property and was being held accountable for how he handled his responsibility. To sin against his master by giving in to the temptation, would clearly have serious consequences when his actions were discovered. Sin brings pleasure for a season, but it always has consequences. Realizing this helped Joseph resist temptation.

Joseph resisted temptation because he looked at the situation righteously–from God’s perspective. Joseph rightly understood that his sin would not only be against Potiphar and his wife, but would be against God himself. “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”(9). Sin is rebellion against God. Our failure to recognize this, makes us vulnerable to temptation. Joseph was very aware that to give in to temptation was to sin against God.

Joseph resisted temptation because he stuck to his decision resolutely.   He determined that he would not give in. He stuck to his decision stubbornly. “And though he spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her” (10).

Joseph resisted temptation by fleeing rapidly. He knew that willpower itself would only go so far. He refused to give in and “made a run for it” when he was in a particularly vulnerable place. 

Temptation is an everyday reality. We would do well to follow Joseph’s example in standing up resolutely to temptation.

God of Strength, enable me to resist temptation. Be with me when I am vulnerable and teach me when to flee. Amen.

Going Deeper

January 19 

Bumper Crop

Today’s Scripture Readings: Psalms 11:1-7; Genesis 39:1-41:16; Matthew 12:46-13:23; Proverbs 3:33-35

Today’s Scripture Focus: Matthew 13:1-23

“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown” (Matthew 13:23, NIV).

Every farm boy knows that farming is all about the harvest. You work all year long in hopes of a bumper crop. You work in hope of the hundred fold yield.

As a teacher you long for students to hear and put into practice the words that you speak.  To mix the metaphors, you teach so that your students will have a bumper crop of hearing and obeying.

But most years, conditions are not sufficient to produce the hundredfold yield, sometimes it is sixtyfold or thirtyfold. Sometimes the plants dry up and die.

Pesky birds can eat up the seeds that fall on the path—just as the Word of God can be stolen by the enemy of our faith. Trials can be as thorns that choke out and starve the plant. Prosperity, too, can function as rocky soil, keeping us from a fruitful harvest.

But then there is the good soil. It yields an abundant harvest of hearing and obeying the Word of God. It is the soil in which disciples flourish.

It is the fallow ground prepared by the plow of repentance. It is the productive ground that is warmed by the sun of God’s presence and watered by the rains of God’s Spirit. It is soil in which faith is enabled to cause the seed to sprout and grow—that has been readied to hear and obey.

May God till the soil of my heart and yours, that we may always be ready to hear and obey—that conditions will be right for abundant growth and a bountiful harvest.

God, prepare my heart to hear and obey today and always. Help me to resist the temptations that would bring drought and stunt growth. Help me to grow and produce an abundance of good fruit. Amen.