"No provision for the flesh"

In Genesis 39:6-13, Joseph is confronted by Potiphar’s wife who tempts him to lie with her. I want us for a moment to consider how Joseph handled this situation as a young man and a servant if God.

First of all, we must understand that we are all susceptible to temptation by the opposite sex. Any one of us could find ourself in a similar situation that Joseph found himself in. So what did he do? Well, first of all, he saw what she was trying to do from the very start: tempt him to lie with her. He ignored her to the best of his abilities and even tried to explain why he could not do such a wicked thing and sin against God (vss. 8-9). We must be on our guard and make sure we understand when someone is wanting a relationship with us that we can’t give them.

But of course, the temptation did not stop with just the request to lie with her. One day, while no one was in the house, she caught him and kissed him and said, “Lie with me” (vss. 11-12). This is where it would have been the hardest for Joseph. Let us remember the young man he was and what a temptation this would have been. From this point on there are a lot of things Joseph could have easily done. He could have thought, “Just one kiss won’t hurt or maybe I can stay a while and just talk her out of it later.” We get the idea. But what did he do? He fled away! He did exactly what the apostle Paul said in Romans 13:13-14, “Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lust.” When it comes to any sin we can’t give Satan one inch! We must be like Joseph and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. Getting to heaven is not easy. It takes disciple but that discipline will be worth a lot when we stand before Almighty God in judgment.

Jonathan Glaesemann