And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: "For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house." And the name of the second he called Ephraim: "For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction."—Genesis 41:50-52
I really can’t love these verses more. What an encouragement they are for us who believe.
God was at the very center of Joseph’s life. He had caused him to not only forget all his sufferings and separations but also to be fruitful where He, in His sovereignty, had placed him. God in His grace had enabled Joseph to forget his brothers’ betrayal, his separation from his family, and his years of unjust suffering. Joseph’s trials had not caused his faith in God to wane but strengthened it instead. Through all that He faced, Joseph’s God was his stay. The words of the apostle Paul come to mind here.
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.—Philippians 3:13-14
If anyone had a reason to be bitter and angry, Joseph did. But Joseph by God’s grace did not live his life crippled by his past. Grief and sorrow were almost certainly his constant companions, but he did not live his life in the light of them. He instead drew near to God and lived in the light of His Presence. He trusted and obeyed God and walked in the works He had prepared for him. And God prospered him.
Beloved…God wants us to walk in the present moment with Him. The past is gone and cannot be changed. The future is not ours to know. Joseph is such a wonderful example to my heart of a man of faith who despite his heartache looked to God to do exceedingly abundantly above all that He could ask or think. He lived moment by moment believing God and doing the next right thing. He put away away bitterness and rejoiced in present blessings. He put on the Lord Jesus Christ and made no provision for his flesh.
Listen, O daughter,
Consider and incline your ear;
Forget your own people also, and your father's house;
So the King will greatly desire your beauty;
Because He is your Lord, worship Him.—Psalm 45:10
"Joseph is a fruitful bough,
A fruitful bough by a well;
His branches run over the wall.
The archers have bitterly grieved him,
Shot at him and hated him.
But his bow remained in strength,
And the arms of his hands were made strong
By the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob
(From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
By the God of your father who will help you,
And by the Almighty who will bless you
With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
The blessings of your father
Have excelled the blessings of my ancestors,
Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.
They shall be on the head of Joseph,
And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.—Genesis 49:22-26
But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.—Ephesians 4:20-24
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.—Ephesians 4:31-32
