Hold on to your garment!
Gen. 39:12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.
In the story of Joseph we read that after he came to Egypt he landed up in Potiphar’s home. There he served and the favor of God was on him. He was in charge over the whole household of Potiphar. While working there as a slave Potiphar’s wife started to try and seduce Joseph. It went on for a while and Joseph refused to give in to her demands because he honored God and he honored Potiphar. One day as they were alone she grabbed a hold of Joseph and as he fled his garment tore and a piece of his garment stayed behind. She accused him of trying to rape her and used the garment as evidence against Joseph. A piece of his garment stayed behind and it became evidence against him even if it was false evidence.
God spoke to me and said that sometimes we leave a piece of our garment behind for the enemy to use against us. Even though Joseph was totally innocent, there was evidence that the enemy wanted to use against him. Just like Potiphar’s wife made it up, the enemy doesn’t mind making up lies about us. When we say something unkind, we leave a piece of garment behind. When we do something contrary to our testimony, we leave a piece of our garment behind. When we gossip or spread false stories, we are leaving a piece of our garment behind. Any evidence that the enemy can use to accuse us is a piece of our garment that we leave behind. Paul admonishes us to walk worthy of our calling!
When Saul was persecuting him, David cut a piece from Saul’s garment while they were in the cave. He was convicted for doing so and the second time he would not have his men touch Saul. He understood that you couldn’t touch the anointed of God. He had a piece of garment that didn’t belong to him. I wonder if he realized that using Saul’s garment as a witness against Saul, he was trying to prove his own righteousness, a righteousness that wasn’t from God. He knew not to touch God’s servant and now he was standing there with his own righteousness instead of having God’s righteousness.
Lets look and see what happened to Noah after the flood!
Gen. 9:21-23 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.
Noah drank wine and was lying in his tent naked. So Shem and Japheth took Noah’s garment and put it over their shoulders and walked backwards to cover him up. They didn’t want to see their father’s nakedness. Neither did they want to hold onto his garment. They used Noah’s garment to cover him. When we see our brothers or sisters naked, exposed because of a weakness, we should cover them and not expose their nakedness. Ham however saw his father’s nakedness and made it known. For that he was cursed. When we refuse to give garments back we set ourselves up for a curse. Just as we don’t like it when people have a piece of our garments, we need to make sure we don’t keep other people's garments. The law forbade someone to keep anybody’s garment if they gave it to you as a pledge. By the end of the day you had to give it back. You were not allowed to let your brother go without his garment that he used to cover himself up with.
Ex. 22:26-27 If thou at all take thy neighbor’s raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goes down. For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? And it shall come to pass, when he cries unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.
So I see two things here. First: Don’t leave a piece of your garment behind. Be careful and walk in a way where you can always give account of the hope that is in you. Secondly: When you see your brother in a fault, cover him up in a loving way. Forgive him and stand in the gap for him. That way he is not naked and God will bless you!