Joseph’s Three Coats (2)

“He left his [coat] in her hand, and fled.”  Ge 39:12 NKJV

The second coat Joseph wore was: The coat of temptation. The Bible says, “When Joseph went into the house to do his work…she caught him by his [coat], saying, ‘Lie with me.’ But he left his [coat] in her hand, and fled and ran outside” (vv. 11-12 NKJV). Joseph was young, handsome, lonely, far from home, and facing repeated temptation at the hands of his boss’s wife. Yet he resisted her advances and said, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (v. 9 NKJV). His first concern was not that he couldn’t get away with it, but that he couldn’t live with himself if he said yes. Remembering how God had loved, preserved, and blessed him put the brakes on any carnal inclinations and impulses he may have had. Not so with David. After his affair with Bathsheba, he wrote these words in his penitential prayer of Psalm 51: “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight” (v. 4 NKJV). Who are you sinning against? God. Who is observing what you’re doing? God: the One who demonstrated the extent of His love for you at Calvary. Did God forgive David? Yes, and He will forgive you too. But David’s story proves that sometimes we have to live with the consequences of our deeds, and they can devastate not only us but those who look to us for guidance. Paul, the greatest of the apostles, acknowledged this truth: “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1Co 9:27 NKJV).

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