Through the lens of Woman
Joseph in Egypt — faithful in the dark
There is a complicated woman in Genesis 39. Potiphar’s wife. The Bible doesn’t paint her well — she lies, she manipulates, she ruins a young man’s life out of injured pride. It is easy to read her as a flat villain.
Look closer. She is a woman in a powerful Egyptian household whose husband is mostly absent. She sees a young, capable, attractive Hebrew slave running her house. She uses what little leverage she has — the only kind of leverage her culture gave her — and she uses it destructively.
Most cultures do not give women much room to use power well. When the only leverage you are handed is seduction, manipulation, or the threat of injury, it is easy to use those leverages even when the cost is someone else’s life. The pattern is older than Genesis. It is still happening.
The Father’s invitation to women of faith is to refuse the destructive leverages and learn to use the influence He gives. Sarah eventually used her voice. Hannah used hers. Esther used hers. Mary used hers. Their leverage was truth, faithfulness, prayer, courage. The same leverage is available to you.
One small thing today: name one place where you have been tempted to use a Potiphar’s-wife-style leverage — manipulation, withholding, indirect punishment, control through emotion — and refuse it. Use a different leverage instead. Truth. Faithfulness. Prayer. Direct request. See what happens to the room.