“How Then Could I Do This Great Wickedness, And Sin Against God?”

Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. The LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man; he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD caused all that he did to prosper in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him; 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. So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charges; and, with him there, he had no concern for anything but the food that he ate.

Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking. 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, “Look, with me here, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my hand. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

Genesis 39:1-9

Joseph was young. His master’s wife was older and beautiful. She had desires for him. He rebuffed her. However, it must have also occurred to Joseph how fearsome her wrath would be when he spurned her advances.

To Joseph, sin was not just “an error in judgment.” It was not a “moment of weakness,” nor was it an “indiscretion.”

God’s moral standards are absolute. It is only when we see sin as something abhorrent to the Lord that we will be motivated to make right moral judgments. Calling sin by a softer name will change neither its offensiveness to God nor its cost to us. There is no excuse for excusing sin.

Our Daily Bread – January 16, 2009