The Forgotten

Last night, while I was doing a few things around the house and on the computer, the movie "The Forgotten" was on. Pretty good flick with Julianne Moore about aliens abducting children and trying to make people forget they ever had kids. It worked with everyone but her. She wouldn't forget. It's basically about the emotional power of humans to not forget, especially something so deeply personal. We simply don't forget.

I was reading this morning some of the story of Joseph in the Bible. Not Jesus' daddy Joseph, the Joseph in the Old Testament. He had it pretty rough. He was one of 12 brothers, sold into slavery by 10 of them, wrongfully accused of making a sexual advance on his slave master's wife, thrown into prison, and betrayed by the people he helped in prison. At every turn, when it looked like it might get better for Joseph, he went down into a deeper valley.

Long story short, he came out of the valley. The Pharaoh in Egypt made him second in command. He became powerful and rich. God had delivered him out of the deepest valley. After he was appointed to his high position, he married and had two sons, and this is what the Scripture says:

"Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, 'It is because God has made
me forget all my trouble and all my father's household.' The second son he
named Ephraim and said, 'It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of
my suffering.'" (Gen. 41:51-52)

Manasseh means "forget" and Ephraim means "twice fruitful." If you let Him, did you know that God can help you forget the pain, the suffering, and, namely, the mistakes. I come across so many people who can't forgive themselves for the mistakes they've made. God so desperately wants you to forget. He has! When we come to Jesus and seek forgiveness, God forgets. He's ready to move on. And he can make you forget all the struggles. He wants you to because he wants to 'twice bless' you, but he can do so only when we forget. Is there something eating you alive? Have you made some grave mistake (at least you think it was grave)? Did someone wrong you in the past and it's holding you back from what God wants to do in your life? God wants you to forget about it. You can't change it. He can't fix it. But He can fix the future. Won't you let Him?