(Genesis 41:50-52)

…FORGETTING and REMEMBERING are part of the Christian life.  God has made us with a brain that is capable of 

  recalling both information and our many experiences in life.  As we age, our minds should be like the family photo

  album filling up with sweet memories.

…Yet, as Christians, there are many things that we need to forget.  We may wonder what Joseph was really like

  down inside where it counts.  Was he bitter from the sting of trouble and disappointments in life?  Had bitterness

  lodged in his heart? 

…As Joseph named his two sons, we have a clear indication of his heart.  He had no bitterness.  He recognized God

  as the source of his promotion and relief from sorrow.   These names provide a testimony to the faithfulness of

  God in bringing him through the years of suffering unto personal fruitfulness.  

TWO NAMES REFLECTING GOD’S FAITHFULNESS CALLING US TO FORGET THE PAST…for we must leave our disappointments with God and move on!!!!

I.      Manasseh: “God Has Made Me Forget My Trouble.”  (vv.50-51)

        A.            Joseph was given a wife by Pharaoh, her name was Asenath.  (v. 45)

                                …She bore two sons during the 7 years of abundant harvest.

                B.             Joseph named his first-born son.  “forgetting”   This reveals his heart.

                C.             Against this background of FORGETTING, we are to REMEMBER some things.

                                1.             We must never forget God and His commands for His people.

                                2.             We must never forget His great works on behalf of His own. 

                D.            What then should we as Believers forget?

                                1.             We must forget any SIN that has been confessed to God, for He has forgiven it.

                                                …1 John 1:9 tells the twofold basis of our forgiveness:  God is FAITHFUL and Just…

                                                …Our sin must be confessed, and if so, we are not to bring it up like a dog digging up

                                               an old bone to gnaw on it.  So truly confess your sin and forget it.                God has…

                                                  (Jeremiah 31:33-34)  “I will remember it no more.”  

                                                …Incidentally, in Hell, no one forgets.  This is one of the horrors  of hell.

                                2.             We must forget the PAST.  This was Joseph’s story.  God had made him forget his

                                                troubles.  God had healed his wounds suffered as a result of abuse & disappointments.

                                                …He let the past be past and went on with God!!!!   So should we.  Many people are so

                                                  obsessed with disappointments that their whole life is warped by them.  Such ones

                                                  are hindered from living a fruitful life now. 

                                                …This was Paul’s testimony.  (Philippians 3:12-14)  “forgetting those things behind…”

                                                  What “things?”  He tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:4-10  “hardships, troubles, distress…”

                                                  …ALSO, we must let past blessings go, when He leads us in a new path.  Give thanks

                                                    for them, but wrong to long after them.  (Numbers 11:5-6)  Don’t be a “leeks and 

                                                    garlic Christian.”  You are when you are constantly looking to the past!

II.     Ephraim: “God Has Made Me Fruitful”  (Doubly!!!)   (v.52) 

                A.            Joseph’s second son’s name expresses his gratitude for God’s blessing in his life.  His name is in

                                the plural form signifying great fruitfulness. 

                                1.             Though not mentioned in the Bible, Joseph must have certainly doubted that God

                                                would ever bless and prosper him. 

                                2.             But the day came, and God blessed him in the land of his suffering.  He is the picture

                                                of “the Psalm 1 man,” who in time became “fruitful.”  

                                3.             His fruitfulness was so great that it was this that grabbed his father’s attention at

                                                his blessing.  (49:22-25)  “Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring…”

                B.             Note this:  it is significant that Joseph named his first son Manasseh and his second son

                                Ephraim, for no one can be truly fruitful until the past is forgotten in the proper sense!!!

                                …if we are living in the past having unconfessed sin, hurts, sufferings, and even old blessings,

                                  we will never be completely fruitful in the present.  Let it all go…and go on with God!!!!

                                …This is what Jesus desires for all of us, to be “doubly fruitful” in His service.