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How Can I Do It?, March 10
Genesis 39:7-12
How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
Genesis 39:9
.
It is always a critical period in a young man’s life when he is separated from
home influences and wise counsels and enters upon new scenes and trying tests.
But if he does not of his own accord place himself in these positions of danger
and remove himself from parental restraint; if, without will or choice of his own,
he is placed in dangerous positions and relies upon God for strength—cherishing
the love of God in his heart—he will be kept from yielding to temptation by the
power of God who placed him in that trying position. God will protect him from
being corrupted by the fierce temptation. God was with Joseph in his new home.
He was in the path of duty, suffering wrong but not doing wrong. He therefore
had the love and protection of God for he carried his religious principle into
everything he undertook
Joseph’s faith and integrity were to be tested by fiery trials. His master’s wife
endeavored to entice the young man to transgress the law of God. Heretofore
he had remained untainted by the corruption teeming in that heathen land; but
this temptation, so sudden, so strong, so seductive—how should it be met?
Joseph knew well what would be the consequence of resistance. On the one hand
were concealment, favor, and rewards; on the other, disgrace, imprisonment,
perhaps death. His whole future life depended upon the decision of the moment.
Would principle triumph? Would Joseph still be true to God? With inexpressible
anxiety, angels looked upon the scene.
Joseph’s answer reveals the power of religious principle. He would not betray
the confidence of his master on earth, and, whatever the consequences, he would
be true to his Master in heaven. Under the inspecting eye of God and holy angels
many take liberties of which they would not be guilty in the presence of their
fellow men, but Joseph’s first thought was of God. “How can I do this great
wickedness, and sin against God?” he said.
If we were to cherish an habitual impression that God sees and hears all that
we do and say and keeps a faithful record of our words and actions, and that we
must meet it all, we would fear to sin
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13
Letter 3, 1879
.
14
Patriarchs and Prophets, 217, 218
.
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