Before You Yield, Ask Yourself..., Part 2

“It came about after these events that his master’s wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, ‘Lie with me.’ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, ‘Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?’” Genesis 39:7-9

Of Joseph’s fiery trial at the hands of his master’s wife, Charles Spurgeon had this to say:

“Like a wise warrior, he knew that in such a case fleeing was the better part of valor. Oh, I saw in the annals of heroism there is not one that shall surpass this. You know it is opportunity that makes a man criminal; and he had abundant opportunity; but importunity will drive most men astray. To be haunted day by day by solicitations of the softest kind - to be tempted hour by hour - oh! It needs a strength super-angelic, a might more than human, a strength which only God can grant, for a young man thus to cleanse his way, and take heed thereto according to God’s Word.

He might have reasoned within himself, ‘should I submit and yield, there lies before me a life of ease and pleasure; I shall be exalted, I shall be rich. She shall prevail over her husband, to cover me with honors; but would I still adhere to my integrity, I shall be cast into prison, I shall be thrown into the dungeon; there awaits me nothing but shame and disgrace.’

Oh, there was a power indeed within that heart of his; there was an inconceivable might, which made him turn away with unutterable disgust, with fear and trembling. ‘Other men might, but how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?’”

God grants supernatural strength to those desiring it when faced with the strongest temptations.