Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.” 52 The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
Here are two principles from the names of Joseph’s sons that could be applied to childbirth. It is said that if women fully remembered the pain they experienced, they would have no more so God helps them forget much of it. That would be Manasseh. Then, especially in a long and hard labor, the sight of a precious newborn at the end of the toil is a cause for celebration for God’s blessing. That is Ephraim. For Joseph, who could know nothing of childbirth, the feeling was similar. He had been thrown in a pit and sold into slavery, only to end up running Egypt and having sons. Life was good in spite of it all.
Come to Cape Community Church tomorrow and see how, at any stage in life, we can experience joy that makes us forget the hardship of our past. Let us learn how to be fruitful, even in the dry soil of this present day with all its sorrow. Many of you have been through a lot of struggle and some of you are in the battle right now. We can have the joy and fruitfulness Joseph experienced by trusting the Lord the way he did. That will be a joy…
We can never forget.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church