No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”
- Genesis 39:9
Catch this phrase: “against God.” That little phrase gives you an excellent insight into Joseph’s heart in this season in his life. When presented with the temptation to sleep with another man’s wife, he saw this as a temptation to sin against God.

Phrases like these can be jarring. It’s easy to see how Joseph’s actions – if he had given in to temptation – would have impacted his master and his wife. But what’s God got to do with it?

Joseph didn’t view his life as compartmentalized. He didn’t separate his relationship with God from his relationships with other people. He allowed God to speak into his relationships. God gave blessings and God gave boundaries. Joseph knew that he couldn’t accept one without the other.

And thinking about God provided a safeguard for Joseph. When faced with this particular temptation, Joseph could have said: “My master would never know” or “She’s the one who initiated it.” But God is a different kind of character in the story. Nothing is hidden from him.

When we live our lives with an awareness of God’s presence, we discover new guiding lights for our behavior. There are things you could get away with that you just won’t do because God is with you. And this is liberating.

Let’s try a mental exercise. Think about a time in your life when someone did or said something sinful to you. What do you think would have changed if that person was aware of the presence of God in that moment and saw that what they were about to do or say would not just be against you but also against God? What’s more, imagine that God’s approval mattered to them. What do you think they’d do differently?