RUN!!!

And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her. And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out. And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth, - Geneses 39.7-13

There are a lot of discussions about how to deal with sin especially sexual sin. We have plenty of books and videos and special meetings and seminars and such and a lot of them are based on good, sound, Biblical principles. Many of them are very helpful and many men have found incredible help through them. God has been good to provide all of this practical help – the problem is getting people to follow it.

But sometimes we need some really quick advice and an examples from Joseph’s life that can pin it down to one word – and a lot of times that one word would work if we would just do it.

Joseph was the master of Potiphar’s house. Potiphar totally trusted him with all the affairs of his home.

But there was a spanner in the works. Potiphar’s wife was after Joseph. She started trying to get him in her bed. Joseph would have nothing to do with her. ‘How can I do such a thing when your husband has trusted me with everything!’

But she persisted. Day after day she begged him to share her bad. And day after day he refused. This was a man of real character. No one could expect a man to put up with that kind of pressure. In the last year or so a judge in the UK let a teacher accused of sexually molesting and student because the ‘student had taunted and seduced him.’

But Joseph did not give in. One day Potiphar’s wife grabbed Joseph to pull him into surely now on one could blame him now!

But Joseph wriggled out of his cloak – and ran. He was not going to do wrong, no matter what. His solution to immediate and strong sexual temptation was simple and it was one word – RUN!

 We need the study of God’s word to deal with sexual temptation. We need the help and support of each other. We need good teaching and preaching.

But sometimes we just need to turn tail and RUN!!