A man was fishing in a pond in Hilton Head, South Carolina. The fisherman began to leave when an alligator emerged from the pond and began to chase him. The man is seen running as fast as he could to get away from the gator. The cell phone video caught his hasty exit amid shrieks and screams of bystanders. There are times when danger stalks us, and the only safe strategy is to simply run, run, run.
Joseph was diligently working for his master Potiphar managing the affairs of his household. His master’s wife saw this handsome young man and propositioned Joseph. Joseph refused because she was another man’s wife, and Potiphar trusted Joseph exclusively. He also told her that this would be great wickedness and a sin against God. She kept up her flirtations and one day when the master was gone, she grabbed Joseph by his garment and tried to sexually assault him. Joseph decided that his best action was to flee the situation, so he ran out of the house and left her holding his garment.
Sexual temptations are all around us. We must develop the Joseph strategy if we are going to win the battle. First, we see Joseph avoiding the temptation. When she began her flirtations, he tried to stay out of her way. When that didn’t work, he fled the temptation. The Bible tells us in 1 Cor. 6:18: “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body”. Paul also told Timothy to flee youthful lusts. We may not be able to avoid every temptation, but we can strongly resist as Joseph did. Joseph could have reasoned that he was just a slave and had to go along with what she wanted. He could have justified himself that no one would ever find out. Joseph’s strategy saw that yielding to her would be great wickedness and a sin against God.
Sexual temptation lurks around every corner. It is more dangerous than an alligator. Don’t become gator bait. Joseph teaches us the best strategy is to run, run, run.