FEBRUARY 17

After becoming a ruler in Egypt, Joseph married and the names he gave his two children were symbolic of the events he had experienced (Genesis 41:51-52). The first child was named Manasseh, meaning “God hath made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.” Joseph didn’t forget his father’s house, but he forgot the pain associated with the events that occurred there. You may never forget the difficulties of the past, but God wants to heal you of the pain of these experiences.

Joseph’s second son was named Ephraim, meaning, “God hath caused me to be fruitful in the

land of my affliction.” Joseph was fruitful in affliction because he let God heal him of the pain of his past. You must deal with the past before you can experience a fruitful future and fulfill your divine destiny.

Because of the famine, Joseph’s brothers were finally forced to travel to Egypt to secure food. When they were summoned to stand before Joseph, they didn’t even recognize him. They bowed in respect before him, and then Joseph remembered the dream–the vision God had given him years before when he was just a young man. As a child, Joseph had dreams of being in a place of responsibility and authority. All through the long, difficult years, Joseph never lost that dream. When at last he stood in the place of his God-appointed destiny, he remembered the dream: “And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed” (Genesis 42:9).

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt” (Genesis 45:4-8).

Joseph realized that the painful events of his past were not just “tough luck” or “unfortunate circumstances.” He declared, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 50:20).

Your past may have been difficult, but God meant it for good. Every adversity is bringing you nearer to your destiny. Joseph went through many difficulties, but God used each circumstance to fulfill His purposes. Joseph was being prepared to save the world. What great thing does God have planned for you? How will He use the experiences of your past as you surrender them to Him?