Scripture
So Jacob blessed the boys that day with this blessing: “The people of Israel will use your names when they give a blessing. They will say, ‘May God make you as prosperous as Ephraim and Manasseh.’” In this way, Jacob put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. Genesis 48:20
Observation
This prayer of blessing was meant to be repeated throughout the generations, but I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever prayed it or even remember reading it. This prayer should be right up there with Aaronic blessing (Num. 6:23) and the Lord’s blessing (Lk. 11:2). Jacob is declaring that the names of Joseph’s sons will be a prophetic declaration over our past and our future. When you take a look at the meaning of these names you begin to understand why this forgotten blessing is one we need to remember and put into practice. “51Joseph named his older son Manasseh, (Manasseh sounds like a Hebrew term that means “causing to forget.”) for he said, “God has made me forget all my troubles and everyone in my father’s family.” 52Joseph named his second son Ephraim, (Ephraim sounds like a Hebrew term that means “fruitful.”) for he said, “God has made me fruitful in this land of my grief.” (Gen 41:51-52). Wow! Forgetfulness and Fruitfulness. Healing of the past leading to a healthy future. When Joseph named his sons he was seeing how God had brought him through years of imprisonment, slavery, abuse from his brothers, literally being forgotten and alone. He had been abandoned by his family and yet now started a family of his own. Instead of being anchored to his wounds he was healed and free to move forward into the blessing and provision of God’s purposes for his life. Who wouldn’t want this for themselves and others? It’s also prophetically significant that Jacob went against custom (as usual) and blessed the second born with the first born blessing. In other words we should give priority to our future over our past.
Application
How many live through their rearview mirror? How many have forgotten that the past is a place of reference not a place of residence? The power of this prayer is that it invites us to invite Christ into our past so we can move into our purpose. Focusing on the past reduces our capacity to focus on the future. Karl Menninger, the famed psychiatrist, once said that if he could convince the patients in psychiatric hospitals that their sins were forgiven, 75 percent of them could walk out the next day! Wow! This forgotten blessing is all about remembering that God has forgotten our sins and has given us the capacity to forgive others who have sinned against us (The Lord’s Prayer). Here’s a litmus test that we need to pray the forgotten blessing over our lives:
-- you ever catch yourself saying or thinking "If only..."
-- you believe the best times of your life have already happened.
-- you long for "the good old days.”
-- your motto is "I wish I woulda-coulda-shoulda"
-- you feel chronically sad or depressed.
-- you tell people younger than you "these are the best times of your life." -- you actually believe it's too late to change anything.
If we want to make peace with our past we must hand the broken pieces to the Prince of Peace and watch Him take it, as He did with Joseph, and form it into a glorious future filled with purpose and promise. In “A Forgiving God in an Unforgiving World”, Ron Lee Davis retells the true story of a priest in the Philippines, a much- loved man of God who carried the burden of a secret sin he had committed many years before. He had repented but still had no peace, no sense of God's forgiveness. In his parish was a woman who deeply loved God and who claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Christ and he with her. The priest, however, was skeptical. To test her he said, "The next time you speak with Christ, I want you to ask him what sin your priest committed while he was in seminary." The woman agreed. A few days later the priest asked.,
"Well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?"
"Yes, he did," she replied.
"And did you ask him what sin I committed in seminary?" "Yes."
"Well, what did he say?"
"He said, 'I don't remember'"
What God forgives, He forgets.
Prayer
What a blessing! I love Your Word! No matter how many times I read it, it’s as if I’m reading it for the first time! This is my new favorite prayer. Thank You Jesus, that through You, my Alpha and Omega, my Beginning and End, my end can be a new beginning. Just as with Joseph you take us from a dead end to a fresh start. Thank you that my you throw my sins into the sea of forgetfulness. Thank you for the promise of fruitfulness for those who abide in You daily.
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