The Daily Struggle

This devotional is from Genesis 39:6-12: The story of Potiphar’s wife’s seduction of Joseph.  It talks about how Joseph lived his life with God in every moment.  Even when it seemed like he was alone, he knew he wasn’t.  So when he was approached over and over again by the wife of his new master, there was no real decision to make; he knew God was with him and that this was a sin against him.  Moreover, he flat out ran away from the situation.  Yes we should always try to make the right choices in any situation.  But sometimes that means leaving that situation.  For Joseph, he left so quickly that he left his cloak behind.  That eventually came back to “bite him” in the end, but it is how we should respond to such situations.  Run!  Leave the explaining until later.  More importantly than having to convince all those people he didn’t do anything wrong, was that he obey God.  Joseph knew that to give into this type of lust was not only a sit against Potiphar, but also God.  He told this to Potiphar’s wife, but still she pursued him.  What an awful situation.

Questions from the devotional:

How would you have handled the sexual advances of Potiphar’s wife?  Well, honestly, I think that depends on what stage I would have been in my life.  I did remain a virgin until I was married, but I think I would have had a terrible time in this situation.  I can’t say for a fact what I would have done as a single man.  As a married man, there is no question in my mind what my response would have been.  I would have run away just like Joseph did.  Although I must admit I might have had a conversation with Potiphar before it came to the last scene.  But I love my wife and children way to much to put them in that situation.  Besides, it is a sin against more than just my wife, it is a sin against God.  I believe God has blessed my marriage and love life because we were able to remain faithful to each other for our entire lives.  I can honestly say I am completely satisfied with the sex in my marriage.  That is something I haven’t heard many men boast of.  So for me, this blessing is far too precious to even think about ruining my relationship with God or my wife. 

How often do you have lustful thoughts?  What do you do about them?  Well, I have to say I have been pretty good.  I haven’t looked at any pornography since my teenage years.  I have tried to steer my eyes clear of any images on TV or the movies.  My biggest temptation is on the Internet.  I do like to click on the popular gossip section that they call news on my Yahoo homepage.  Occasionally it will show a scantily clad celebrity.  I find myself sometimes guessing, from the headline, whether this next “click” will show something I shouldn’t be looking at.  Not pornography, but let’s face it, even the fashion ads are soft core porn - ironic for someone trying to sell clothes, don’t you think.  From time to time I find myself using the image finder of a search engine for some project at work.  I know, no matter what you enter into the search line, that something inappropriate always comes up.  Again, sometimes before I press enter I find myself wondering how the Internet will twist this word or phrase around to try and get me to an inappropriate site.  But is that line of thinking bad?  I’m not so sure it is.  I’m not naive and I think that’s part of it.  But there are times I know I can be more precise in my searching to make sure I don’t get the bad stuff.  I need to go out of my way to keep the temptation from presenting itself.  As far as what I do about lustful thoughts… OK, stop reading if your shy at heart.  This next section is admittedly too much information, but since my real identity is not posted on this site, I will say it anyway.  I stopped masterbating many years ago, at the request of my wife.  Side note, before I go on.  It has improved my sex life with my wife tremendously.  Masturbation is such a self gratifying thing to do.  You’d be amazed at how much it affects your love life when you stop.  But anyway,  as any man can tell you.  We are all visual learners, we can remember every sexual scene, real or not, that we’ve seen since puberty - including all the National Geographics and JC Penny’s lingerie sections.  But, you’d be surprised at how quickly you let them go when you know you’re not going to play them back later when you’re masturbating.  I can actually say that if I do see something I think I shouldn’t be, I do forget it quickly and don’t act on it at all. Ok, I’ll stop there.  That’s enough sharing for the time being.   

What practical measures can you take to guard yourself against lustful temptations?  You have to do an assessment of you daily life.  Are there things that are temptations for you that you can leave out?  It might even mean leaving your current job and finding one that’s better for you.  It might mean severing a long time friendship with someone you know is a bad influence on you, or that flirts with you.  Yes, loosing those unhealthy relationships is necessary for real growth to occur.  Another idea, and this I will steal from Arterburn and Stocker, from their book Every Young Man’s Battle, is to “bounce” your eyes.  If you see something you shouldn’t, then look away immediately and don’t look back even for a second.  This includes billboards, TV shows, women walking down the street.  Look away and don’t look back.  I find this necessary when flipping through magazines.  Turn the page quickly and don’t turn back.

Lord, how embarrassing and taboo it is to talk about sex.  Yet, sex is a beautiful, fun blessing you created for us in marriage.  Please help me to stay pure by the example of Joseph.  To run away from bad situations and in doing so, honoring you and my family.  Please Lord, give me the strength not to fall victim to all the media images that are thrown my way everyday.  I pray this in Jesus name, amen.

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