Higher Power

Sometimes doing the right thing can get you in trouble.

One day, however, when he went into the house to do his work, and while no one else was in the house, she caught hold of his garment, saying, 'Lie with me! But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, she called out to the members of her household and said to them, 'See, my husband has brought among us a Hebrew to insult us! He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice; and when he heard me raise my voice and cry out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside. Then she kept his garment by her until his master came home, and she told him the same story, saying, 'The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to insult me; but as soon as I raised my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.When his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, saying, 'This is the way your servant treated me, he became enraged. And Josephs master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the kings prisoners were confined; he remained there in prison. - Genesis 39:11-20

In today's reading from the Book of Genesis, Joseph is falsely accused and even though he is highly trusted and given great authority in the household, his master puts him in prison.

While it isn't Jospeh's fault that he found himself in this situation, there may have been some things he could have done to prevent it.

When his master's wife first approached him and asked him to lie with her, he turned her down, but he didn't tell his master.

We don't know if the master would have believed him or not. so the outcome could have been the same if he had.  What it boils down to is whom do you want to believe?

For the longest time, in situations like this, we have wanted to believe that the people in authority were above such things.  Accusations against them were attacks and we didn't want them to be true.

But over time, our trust in authority diminished to the point where nearly all in power are suspect.

Now I am not saying all accusations are false.  Nor am I claiming that people in positions of power, like Joseph and his master's wife, do not take advantage of their positions.

What I think is that attitudes have changed and so our perspective of the situation has changed with them.

In Joseph's day, servant's were trusted and given control of the master's property, but they were still servants and they could be treated as property.

So it is possible that Joseph's refusal of the wife's advances could have been viewed as insubordination, landing him in prison anyway.

How many times have people been in situations where their jobs were in jeopardy because of a refusal to do what they were told, even when they knew it was wrong?

When we answer to a higher authority than our fellow man, we run the risk of challenging the power structure, and so we face the consequences.

It is easy to mislabel these situations, seeing them as one -ism or another, when they are really about power.

If we fail to submit to one's power and answer instead to a higher power, we will face the consequences.  No one wants to give up power attained.

So, what is the lesson here?

Joseph went to prison and stayed true to his faith, trusting in God, refusing to give in to the powers that be.  It took a while, but it worked for him.  He eventually found himself in power.

When the time comes that we are faced with going along with the situation or standing up against the power structure that wants us to go against our principles, we will have to make our own decisions, and live with the consequences.

If we stay focused on our higher power, we will do alright.  It just may not be easy.

More to come...