Forgetfulness and Fruitfulness

Think of a time when you had an experience that was so negative that you wanted to just forget about it. Maybe it was a bad relationship, a challenging job, a chaotic family experience, or an insurmountable burden of debt. It may have happened many years ago, or very recently. In any event, the myriad of emotions that you went through during that period continues to stick with you. You may have been treated unfairly, abused, disrespected or bullied, because even adults are victims of bullying. You may have made a bad decision that you can’t undo, so it sticks with you and haunts you. Possibly you never shared your experience with anyone because it was too painful or embarrassing.

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Unfortunately, now that experience lives on with you. You can’t shake it. It seems like it occurred just yesterday. It defines how you act and think, your responses to situations, and your perspective of yourself. You wish you could move on. You try to push it into the deep recesses of your mind, but at the seemingly strangest moments, it pops out again.

Everyone else around you seems to be carefree. No one else seems to have such a horrible memory. No one could imagine what you’ve been through. You want to shake it, yet you can’t seem to figure out how to do that. How can you forget? How can you move forward like it never happened?

A Time For Forgetfulness

There was a man named Joseph who had a similar experience. For no good reason, his jealous brothers threw him into an empty pit, and left him to die. Then they changed their mind and sold him to some strangers, who sold him again to a powerful and wealthy man. He lacked the freedom to get home to his father; and even if he could, feared his brothers’ wrath if he ever showed up again. So he stayed where he was, working day and night to please his boss, hoping that one day he’d be freed from his situation. He was successful in his work until one day he got in trouble with his boss’s wife. He had seen her looking at him when he was in her vicinity, and he always hurried through his work to get out of her presence. He knew better than to get involved with her. But one day, she caught him alone in the house and she went after him. He ran in fear, but in his haste he literally ran out of his clothes, and left them there in her hands. When he realized how she would then set him up, it was too late to do anything about it. Her husband, his boss, came home, listened to her lie, and threw him in prison for trying to rape his wife.

Just when he thought his life was bad enough, here he was in a dungeon. The smells were worse than he had ever experienced. The food was moldy and rotten, if you could keep the rats from it. Many of the prisoners seemed almost delirious from their time there. How would he ever get out? There was no one to advocate for him. Once again, he had done nothing wrong, yet he was being unfairly attacked. But once again he found whatever work his hands could do, and helped the prison warden. He became so successful that the warden entrusted him with everything in the prison.

One day two of the King’s senior assistants were thrown into prison. He couldn’t imagine what they must have done to deserve such treatment, but there they were. Feeling sorry for them, he tried to be nice. One morning, both of them woke up from startling dreams. They remembered vividly everything that happened and shared it with Joseph. At that moment, God gave Joseph the interpretation of the dreams…a good outcome for one and, sadly, a bad outcome for the other. Each of the dreams came to pass just as Joseph predicted they would. But would the one who was restored to his former job with the king remember him?

Two years passed, and nothing, no change to his circumstance. He cried out to God in frustration and confusion. Why me? I haven’t done anything to deserve such treatment? Then one day, the guards came and hastily dragged him out of the prison. He didn’t know whether to be afraid or hopeful. They cleaned him up, washing the prison stench from his body and hair; shaved him and put clean clothes on him. Then they brought him before the king. What happened? The king had a troubling dream the night before, and no one among all his wise men could provide an interpretation; until the king’s assistant remembered Joseph. So here he was, asked to interpret another dream. Would God also provide this interpretation?

A Time For Fruitfulness

Once the king shared his dream, Joseph instantly knew what to say. It was so clear. He quickly shared the meaning of the dream with the king; that the people in that country would experience a period of plenty followed by a famine; then he continued to give him some advice on what to do. The king marveled at Joseph’s ability to interpret the dream and determined that Joseph’s wisdom would be effective in managing the entire situation. Thus in a matter of hours, Joseph went from the dungeon to the throne room. He went from one of the lowest positions to one of the highest positions.

The king gave him a wife, who in the course of time gave him two sons. Joseph named the first son Manasseh, which means “to forget”. He named the second son Ephraim, which means “to be fruitful”. These names represented Joseph’s life experience. He wanted to forget all the unfair treatment, all those who lied and cheated on him, all the deplorable living conditions he’d endured. He chose not to let those memories be a part of his future, and purposely left them in his past. As a result he truly “forgot” about it. Sure, he could still recall it, but he lived as if it had never existed. He lived in the present, because his present day was now fruitful. His present time was now bountiful. He had a beautiful home, a huge wardrobe, his choice of transportation, more than enough money to provide for his family, the finest delicacies to eat, and a position second only to the king. Joseph chose to forget the ugliness in his past and instead concentrate on the beauty in his present.

What About You?

So what decision will you make? Will you continue to concentrate on all the negative experiences of your past, or will you instead leave them in the past, and focus on your present and your future? Several years later when Joseph was reunited with his brothers he treated them kindly and didn’t hold a grudge against them. He recognized the hand of God had prepared him for the position he was now in. And throughout all of this, Joseph never cursed God. He didn’t understand why things happened this way, but he continued to trust in God, and to be diligent and trustworthy in his work. In the midst of his hard times those around him recognized that the hand of God was continually upon him, giving him favor even in the worst of circumstances.

I challenge you to purposefully choose to forget your past. Forgive yourself and anyone else who may have harmed you, and walk forward, letting the chains that bound you to that past fall away. Choose to focus on a positive future, defined by who you want to be, not by who you were. Step up into your future of fruitfulness, and embrace all the good things that God has promised you and desires to bless you with.

Copyright 2012 Priscilla Archangel