A Wicked Thing

“Come and sleep with me,” she demanded. But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.” Genesis 39:7-9

JOSEPH WAS YOUNG and good-looking. He was far away from the support and accountability of home. And he was being relentlessly pursued by the wife of his master. Yet when this woman insisted that he sleep with her, Joseph refused. Where did this resolve come from? As parents we’d like for it to be bottled and sold in bulk so we could force-feed it to our children.

First, Joseph knew he was not a free agent, but rather a trusted servant. The goodness of his master instilled in him a sense of loyalty that he did not want to violate. Second, he was clear about the true nature of what he was being asked to do. It wasn’t just a bit of harmless fun or a love story that was meant to be. Joseph called it “a wicked thing.” Third, Joseph saw that it would be a great sin against the God he loved. He simply loved God too much and feared him too greatly to take a casual approach to sin. Joseph was able to see through what presented itself as pleasure to recognize its true ugliness. He saw past the pleasure to the pain it would bring to his master and the offense it would be to his God. And so he refused.

Our sons and daughters are deluged with the message from our culture that being sexually active, regardless of marital status, is normal and even necessary to live a full life. They face ongoing temptation to look at and indulge in what is wicked. Oh, that they would have the clarity to recognize wickedness when it pursues them!

Lord, I can’t protect ________ from every temptation, and I can’t instill in ________ a resolve not to sin when temptation comes after her. Only you can protect her from the enemy that seeks to rob, kill, and destroy. Only you can instill in ________ a desire to please you that is greater than her desire to please herself. Would you give ________ clarity about the wickedness of sexual sin? Would you give ________ resolve to live a pure life? And would you fill ________ with a growing love for you that would make it more and more unthinkable to sin against you?