How Joseph Was Able to Resist Potiphar’s Smoking Hot Wife

It's the classic interview question:

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Before the employer hires you, he wants to know where you are headed. If you tell him that you see yourself in Seattle on a house boat whale watching, but you're applying for a job in Ohio, he's probably not going to hire you.

He wants you long term, not just for a year or two.

More importantly though, the answer to that question also reveals what's important to you.

You Need A Vision

Even if you're not prepping for a job interview, you should still ponder the answer to this question. If you don't clarify in which direction you want to go you will either be stuck in one place, or even worse: you will move in the direction someone else wants you to go.

When you have a vision for your life, all of your actions move you toward that vision.

Take Joseph for example.

When he was still young and naïve, God gave him two dreams that became the vision for his life.

In those dreams his entire family bowed before him (in the form of wheat and stars).

Joseph could not have anticipated the actions that led to the fulfillment of this vision, but he never let go of it.

Fast forward some years.

In the employ of Potiphar, Joseph excelled through the blessing of God. Potiphar took notice and promoted him to manager of his household.

But he wasn't the only one who took notice.

Potphar's wife also took notice of Joseph, and she liked what she saw. So much that she made repeated sexual advances at him which came to a head one day:

She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” Genesis 39:12a

Now Potiphar's wife was a babe. How do I know? Look at who her husband was. A man as powerful as Potiphar could choose any woman he wanted.

No, she was a babe, but Joseph resisted. Actually, he fled:

But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. Genesis 39:12b

But you know how easy it would have been for Joseph to give in to temptation? He heretofore had had a rough life. He was sold into slavery by his own brothers.

Aside from that, who would have known? Potiphar didn't even keep track of his possessions (Gen. 39:6). Do you think he could keep track of his wife?

It would have been so easy for Joseph to lie to himself and give in to temptation. But he didn’t even entertain the idea. Instead he ran away.

So how was he able to do it?

Look at what he says to the temptress in response to her advance:

How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” Genesis 39:9b

He did not say, “How could I sin against Potiphar?” No, he still held fast to the vision God gave him all those years before.

He knew God had a plan for him, and why would he throw it all away for a few moments of physical pleasure?

What's Your Vision?

You need a vision.

Few of us will ever receive an actual dream given by God, but that’s no excuse not to have one.

Identify what’s important in your life. Allow yourself to imagine who you would like to be in five years. Pray about it. Then come up with a vision. Then hang on to it.

Here’s mine:

A man who embodies Micah 6:8. An engaged husband and father. A full-time self-employed writer.

What’s yours?

Having a vision for your life makes it so much easier to avoid the tempters and temptresses that do nothing but detract from your goal.

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Leave me a comment; I'd love to know what your vision is.