🌿BREATHE TRUTH🌿
So he was alone with his brothers when he told them who he was. Then he broke down and wept. —Genesis 45:1-2
🌿LIVE THE REAL TRUTH🌿
Joseph experiences a passionate lesson. Sometimes in life you have to let people go, let the past go, let the pain go. More than once.
Joseph is sold into slavery when he is seventeen. At age thirty, he receives the appointment of second in power of all Egypt, in charge of Pharaoh’s court (Genesis 41:40) and in charge of all of the land of Egypt (Genesis 41:45). Thirteen hard years passes between the time he is seventeen to thirty where he is a servant in Potiphar’s household and then wrongly imprisoned.
After reaching the highest echelon of power, Pharaoh gives him a wife and their union produces two sons. Joseph names the older son Manasseh, for Joseph proclaims “God has made me forget all my troubles and everyone in my father’s family.” (Genesis 41:51) Then he names the younger son Ephraim, for Joseph believes “God has made me fruitful in the land of my grief.” (Genesis 41:52).
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Redemptive grace.
The emancipation of Joseph from slavery is a rewriting of redemptive grace. Joseph’s call of freedom and catapult into a new life, new love, and new leading are major turning points that could only be orchestrated by God. In turn, Joseph celebrates these redemptive gifts by gifting his sons with names that sing of his heart charge, soul change. Manasseh in Hebrew means “causing to forget” while Ephraim means “fruitful.” New melodies are being sung after years of uncertain silence.
Years of uncertain predicament—What is God’s care for my life? What will happen to me? Lord, show me your way.
Years of uncertain placement—What is God’s calling of my life? What will I do with my life? Lord, show me your will.
Years of uncertain purpose—What is God’s character in my life? What will God reveal to me in the land of my grief? Lord, show me your worship.
In every uncertainty arising, God answers abundantly His way, His will, and His worship in Joseph’s story. God’s redemptive grace usurps the turmoil of his tumultuous years as well as ours. It recalibrates how we see ourselves and those who cause destructive damage to us. It propels us to this real truth: No matter how our life appears to be at the mercy of others, our merciful God reorders our life sequences and consequences to deliver us from what we can’t deliver ourselves.
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Redemptive courage.
When Joseph’s brothers arrive in Egypt to buy grain for their family, old wounds open up. This rupture culminates in an emotional breakdown for Joseph as he reveals his true identity to them. For Joseph, this is a letting go once more of the people, the past, and the pain that has produced so much sorrow.
Joseph gives his children significant names to mark the milestone of forgetting and being fruitful in his new home. But despite the remarkable success he has secured, the young boy who was assailed and abandoned to become a slave by his brothers, that boy still resides in Joseph. Alone, facing fears and an unfathomable future in a foreign land.
Joseph’s story is our story. His story encourages us to release those who hurt us profoundly more than once. If need be, over and over again. It takes redemptive courage to forgo our past and fight for our present so we can forge a future blessed by God.
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©️2019 Jordan Su