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Genesis 39:1-23
Present or Distant?
We’re in week three of our four part series on God’s promises.
This week we’re looking at God’s promise of presence.
I find it helpful to compare God’s presence to breathing.
People take an average of 20,000 breaths per day.
Of the 20,000 breaths you take each day, how many of them do you notice?
Similarly, God is with us everyday, but how often do we notice Him?
Like breathing, God is always present and necessary, but He isn’t always acknowledged.
In today’s lesson we have an example of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife.
We’re going to consider what it means for God to be present to each of them, and then we will look at ways we can more fully experience God’s presence in our lives.
God’s Presence
In today’s lesson, both Joseph and Potiphar’s wife are surrounded by God’s presence.
Only Joseph, however, consistently appeals to God’s presence which is why, by the end, we read in verse 23...
God’s external presence is universal and it is not affected by our recognition of Him.
Psalm 139 puts it this way.
In today’s lesson, God isn’t just present with Joseph.
He’s also present with Potiphar’s wife.
God was there when Potiphar’s wife was born.
He was there as she grew up and married.
God is there as she attempts to seduce him.
God is there as she lies about him.
God is there when she wrongfully has Joseph thrown in prison.
That does not mean that God is alive within Potiphar’s wife.
Like Adam and Eve fleeing God in the garden in Genesis 3, God is right there.
Potiphar’s wife, however, is far from God.
Acknowledgement of God’s Presence
Not so for Joseph
For Joseph, the presence of God is acknowledged immediately.
When Potiphar’s wife approaches him, Joseph responds...
Sin against God...
It’s my observation that if you want to kill sin, acknowledge God in a conversation.
You may not convince the other person, but once you’ve convinced yourself of a Godly standard, it’s impossible to move forward in an ungodly way.
Potiphar’s wife doubles down.
Why?
Because she has nothing else to live for.
Flesh knows only flesh.
It has nothing more to live for.
Joseph, however, has God and God’s standard to live for.
He flees
He’s thrown in prison.
Ironically, Joseph is freer than Potiphar’s wife even though he ends up in prison.
Potiphar’s wife is enslaved to sin and her brokenness.
Present With Us
The amazing thing is that we now have available to us something Joseph never possessed.
Acts 2:38-39 reads...
You WILL receive the gift of the Holy Spirit…that’s a promise.
Through the Holy Spirit, the gift of God’s presence is in you.
It’s not just happening around you, it’s happening in you.
Jesus put it this way in John 7:37-39...
When we repent and are baptized, the Holy Spirit of God becomes a present and living reality inside of us.
I was speaking to a friend of mine yesterday, Kevin, and he put it this way...
If I lose everything, I still have God with me.
If I lose the business, if friends and family turn on me, I still have God with me.
That’s Holy Spirit presence.
That sort of presence KNOWS God is real and present, and as the Spirit lives, the cares of the world recede.
If you’ve not experienced that, please reach out to me so we can start a conversation on how to move forward.
Hold Your Breath
Let’s close with an exercise...
If you are able, hold your breath for three seconds…now let it out.
If you breathe 20,000 times a day, you just noticed one breath.
This week, do the same as it relates to God.
Take moments to pray, to remember God, to acknowledge God in your life.
Look for ways to thank Him, to repent of wrongdoing, and to enjoy His blessing.
Acknowledge the God who is everywhere around you.
He is also the God who promises to live inside those who love Him and believe.
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