Genesis 39:10-12
Reading these verses has all the fascination of watching a train wreck.  Both Joseph and Potiphar’s wife are strong willed people and determined to have their way.  Joseph has a mandate to take care of Potiphar’s household and he is going to take care of and manage that household.  Potiphar’s wife wants Joseph in no uncertain terms.  Avoiding each other is going to be difficult as they live and work in the same house, in the same environment.  Both have the power and ability to arrange that environment to suit their purposes.  Sooner or later, the collision was bound to occur.

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Genesis 39:6b-9
The fundamental idea of integrity is soundness within a whole; that all within the whole is sound and each part being sound for the whole to be sound.  If one of the modules that makes up the Space Station is leaking oxygen into space, neither that specific module nor the either Space Station is considered sound; the integrity of both the module and the Station have been compromised.  And so it is with our integrity as we follow Christ.  When we compromise on a ‘little thing’ it compromises the whole of our walk and following.

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Genesis 39:5-6a
Joseph’s resilience was underpinned by his faith in God.  He served God and so served his master Potiphar as if unto God.  This faith in God was rewarded by God.  Not only did God bless Joseph but He also blessed Joseph’s master.  This blessing was quite plain to Potiphar and so Potiphar rewarded Joseph as well.

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Genesis 39:3-4
Adversity reveals faith, regardless of what that faith may be in or its relative strength or weakness.  Adversity reveals what it is that we really believe to be true about the world around us and who we believe that God really is.  The heroes of the Bible all faced adversity and it was in that adversity that God revealed Himself.  Joseph’s story is no exception as God uses adversity to build a resilience in Joseph that He is able to use in powerful ways.

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Genesis 39:1-2
Just because the world has fallen apart does not mean that the world has fallen apart.  Everything that Joseph has known is behind him, left in Canaan with his family when his brothers sold him as a slave.  He is now in Egypt, sold into the house of Potiphar, an important man, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.  During the course of the 15 to 20 day trip south, the shock of what had happened to him would have worn off and if the reality of what had happened hadn’t set in, in would have as Joseph stood forth to be sold.  Yes, the old is gone, but a brand new vista is opening up before Joseph, if he will only recognize it for what it is.

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Genesis 37:11-36
In the movie Field of Dreams, the main character Ray is talking to his wife Anne.  He already has put his dream into action, building a baseball diamond in the middle of his corn field.  He says to Anne, “The Voice is back.”  She responds, “Oh, Lord.  You’re supposed to build a football field now?”  This is the kind of response you might expect from someone associated with a dreamer, complete skepticism.  It is certainly the response that Joseph got from his brothers and parents.  But Joseph never expected the response that his brothers gave him when he went out to the pastures where they were taking care of the family sheep.

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