Falsely Accused

"When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, she called to the men of her household and said to them, 'See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make sport of us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I screamed. When he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.'... Now when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, 'This is what your slave did to me,' his anger burned. So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail." -Genesis 39.13-15, 19-20

The man was innocent and blameless. But the woman was rejected and shamed. She devised a plan to get back at him. If he wouldn't give in to her, she would ruin his life. When she had grabbed hold of his cloak he shed it in order to get away, and she would use that to undo him. She devises a lie, tells her husband who believes her, and Joseph is arrested and thrown in jail. An innocent man was punished and the guilty party got away with everything.

We live in a world where things like this happen everyday. The innocent suffer while the corrupt advance. The blameless are accused and the guilty escape justice. The world is full of false accusations. I've been apart of one. In the last church there was a guy who wanted a leadership role, but was not capable of handling it. Since he couldn't have what he wanted he began to spread rumors about the leaders in the church, myself included. Fortunately, we were able to deal with it before any serious damage was done, but the lies he had spread did leave a mess to be cleaned up.

Men, you cannot stop anyone from spreading a rumor about you, but you can live in such a way the discredits it from the beginning. Joseph's situation was a little different. He was a slave, and his master's wife made an accusation against him. His master had to do something in order to save face, but I'm guessing the wife had a history of behavior like this, and Potiphar knew it, because Joseph isn't put to death.

Men, what does your life look like? If someone spread a rumor that you were stealing money from your work, are you living with integrity where people would say, "There's no way he would ever do that. I know him, and that's not who he is." Or would their response be, "Doesn't surprise me, he always did seem kind of shady." The way you live can kill a rumor because the people who hear it will know the character of the one who is being spoken about.

How are you living? Would a false accusation stand against you? Or would it be smothered as soon as it was spoken?

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor