Knowing God - Genesis 39:6-7

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Joseph was handsome and good-looking.

And after a time his master's wife cast

her eyes on Joseph and said, "Lie with me."

Genesis 39:6-7

 

I learned a new word this morning from an old devotional. "Perfidious" means "guilty, treacherous, faithless, or deceitful."

 

With that in mind, I'm very intrigued by the phrase "Lie with me." In English (and in this context), "lie" has two perfidious (treacherous) meanings. In the more literal sense, a perfidious wife wants to lie down with someone other than her husband. But I'm more interested in the less literal sense ...

 

Potipher's wife wants Joseph to "lie with [her]." Yes, she wants to physically entangle him in her adultery (perfidy), but she also wants to entangle him in her lies and deceitfulness and treachery.

 

Adultery, obviously, entangles not just one person in a web of lies. But the question is: Who are you entangling in other kinds of lies and perfidy? And whose treachery are you tangled up in?

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who used to use conditioner on his hair

(I didn't even want my hair to be tangled

... but God made sure I didn't have to worry

anymore about tangled hair.

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You don't have to just get tangled up in other's lies ... you can get tangled up in the lies that you yourself believe.  That you create out of your reality.  These lies can be just as destructive. Just as perfidious. And - to use pastor's illustration - if anyone has gotten their hair tangled, you know how painful it can be to untangle it.