Forgiveness + “Made Me to Forget”

Written By Meg Najera

Download the handwritten version of Forgiveness + “Made Me to Forget” here.

Download the Forgiveness + “Made Me to Forget” audio/episode here.

Forgiveness.

·      Forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling.

·      It is a decision to release a person from whatever we have held against them; from whatever wounds they inflicted—real  or perceived.

·      Forgiveness is a very difficult, very intentional, conscious decision.

·      Forgiving is not forgetting, because the “memory eraser” has not been invented yet.

·      The memories (though they dissipate with time) remain, but forgiveness releases the venom from their bite.

·      It is not a snake bite that kills, but the poison accompanying it.

·      Forgiveness is the only “antivenom” that will keep your “bites” from being deadly.

·      So, it is with wounds. Wounds will not kill you, but allowing bitterness to infect them can.

·      Forgiveness is the only “antiseptic” that will keep your wounds from becoming “infected.”

·      Forgiveness is an act of your will that is enabled by the grace of God.

·      Forgiveness is a decision we may have to make again and again.

Made Me to Forget.

Several times recently, Genesis 41:51 has popped into my head:

        “And Joseph called the name of his firstborn son Manasseh: For God, he said, has made me to forget all my toils, and all my father’s house.”

By saying “God has made me to FORGET,” Joseph was not saying he no longer remembered the series of events and years of painful circumstances he had endured, but rather that God had created something so beautiful through them that the sting of those memories no longer consumed him. He clearly did not literally forget the memories and his family, for in the next chapter (42:7) it says, “And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them.” HE REMEMBERED THEM. 42:8 – “And Joseph KNEW his brethren, but they knew him not.” 42:9 – “And Joseph remembered the dreams he dreamed of them…” His memory still served him quite well. I’m sure that if he tried, he could still recall the cold dankness of that pit on his first night alone. I’m sure he could still taste the tears he shed as he walked, chained, behind a caravan toward a very uncertain future. I’m sure he could still recollect the angst, and fear, and torturous emotions he endured as he was lied about by Potiphar’s wife; the human desire to defend himself against false accusations, and the sense of utter helplessness from being completely unable to do so. I’m sure his memories of lonely nights in prison were still there. He could more than likely recall the ache of being forgotten by the butler and the longing to again see his father. These and many other memories would probably have been available for recall at a moment’s notice, but he said, “God has made me to forget all my toil.” That word, toil, means “weariness, trouble, and vexation.” God had extracted the STING from the suffering. He had removed the struggle from the season. Though Joseph COULD remember, the pain was no longer the key factor.

I know from personal experience what this is like. I have had seasons where I lived consumed with pain of a certain experience, and, now, while I still remember that it DID HURT, I would have to try to remember how it hurt and what the hurt felt like. I no longer “live there.” “God has made me to forget.” Living beyond the pain is possible.

For Joseph, there was much to forget. 13 years of misery and mistreatment. He was 17 (Gen. 37:2) when his brother conspired against him, and 30 when he stood before Pharaoh (Gen. 41:46). Those 13 years represent far more than could ever be captured in 3 chapters in Genesis. A plot to kill him. Betrayal. False accusations. Being forgotten by those he had helped, and that is just the beginning. I am sure the emotion of those events were infinitely deeper than could ever be captured by pen and ink or mere human words. There are pains in this life that could never be expressed or explained with any level of accuracy. So deep are they that they must be endured alone with only God to understand their severity. Only God and Joseph will ever know what is “between the lines” of his story. Only the LORD, who was with him (Gen. 39:3, 23) will ever understand the depths of sorrow faced during those 13 years. Only God and Joseph will ever know what is represented in one word: “TOIL.” Only God and Joseph will know what he was caused to forget.

Very suddenly, Joseph’s season of suffering, which served far more as a season of preparation, was over. One day, he was a forgotten prisoner, and the next, he was a remembered ruler. Without fanfare, and far from anything Joseph could have ever imagined, he moved from preparation to purpose. In an instant, he was launched into a future destiny; into a plan of the Infinite that Joseph would never have thought possible. That moment of transition from pain to his portion caused him to be able to say things like: “God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive,” and “It was not you that sent me here but God.” He was accelerated from pain to purpose and living in calling caused him to “forget.” He now had the gift of hindsight, and could see, if only in part, that all he had endured was for a reason. It had served the purpose of a great God and the future of God’s people.

God still has the ability to take the sting from the suffering. He still has the ability to remove the struggle from the season. He is the same “yesterday, today, and forever,” and the God of Joseph is the same God I walk with. As I’ve heard it said, “He is the God of a suddenly calling.” There will be a moment of moving from pain to purpose. There will be a day, where the gift of hindsight will reveal God at work in the ‘toil,’ preparing the one enduring it for calling, destiny, and future. There will be a moment when the consummation of calling will far outweigh being consumed by the pain. There will be a moment where God will cause me to forget.

Life is hard. Wounds are real. Forgiveness is possible.

If you have struggled to forgive, read and re-read the story of Joseph in Genesis chapters 37-50. (You can skip chapter 38, unless you’re in for a crazy stand-alone story. ;) )

There is nothing you have walked through in your life that God cannot use for your good and His glory. Nothing. He wastes no pain. “All things work together for good to them that love God…” (Romans 8:28) All means all.

He will “make you to forget.”

Thank you for joining me for this journey. I look forward to meeting up with you again next Friday!

Go grab your Bible and your journal! Looking forward to the power of this habit in YOUR life. This is Unedited.

This is for U.

Happy Friday.

Meg Najera
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