Fruitful In The Land Of Suffering

Fruitful In The Land Of Suffering

Joseph named his older son Manasseh, for he said, “God has made me forget all my troubles and the family of my father.” Joseph named his second son Ephraim, for he said, “God has made me fruitful in this land of my suffering.” –Genesis 41:51-52

The first time I heard Pastor Jim Cymbala preach, he preached on these verses. That day, his message seemed to be just for me. The process of leaving a job I loved had left me ripe for bitterness. Pastor Cymbala described what it meant for Joseph, who had so many justifiable reasons to hold a grudge against his brothers, to experience the forgiving power of God in his life to the extent that he would name his firstborn son “God has made me forget all my troubles and the family of my father.” Giving his son this name was his way of celebrating a supernatural work of God in the interior of his life. I don’t know how anyone can truly forgive others for significant betrayal without a work of God. God not only enabled Joseph to forgive, but also helped him to forget. While I imagine Joseph had memories of the hurt, when he thought of what had been done to him, it no longer brought a sting in his soul.

Years after that sermon, a friend sent me a note after listening to a tape of me speaking to a group of women about what God was teaching me, recorded when Hope was about five months old. She told me she saw in my life what Joseph experienced in his: “God has made me fruitful in this land of my suffering” (Genesis 41:52).

It is one thing to experience significant suffering and to see with hindsight what God has done and how he has used it for good. It’s far more thrilling when we begin to allow God to use the suffering in our lives even while we are in the midst of it. God does not want to wait until everything is perfect in your life to begin to use you. He wants you to be fruitful right now, in the midst of your pain . . . perhaps uniquely because of your pain. Would you be willing to ask God to begin to use you even now as you live in a land of suffering? You may have to surrender your own agenda and set aside your self-pity, but the fruit will be so sweet.

Oh God who makes me forget my sorrow and makes me fruitful in my suffering, how I want to celebrate the birth of a Manasseh and an Ephraim in my life. You are the power behind that possibility, but how I need you to plow up my life so you can do your work.

DIGGING DEEPER