Forget It

[0:00] A Pastor's Reflections, Forget It. Genesis 41, 51. And Joseph called the name of his firstborn Manasseh.

[0:11] For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil and all my father's house. Hebrews 8, 12. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

[0:26] Isaiah 43, 25. I, even I, am he that blots out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

[0:39] Joseph has just spent the last thirteen years of his life in Egypt, under some of the most disagreeable of circumstances. Maliciously sold into slavery by his brothers, unjustly accused by Potiphar's wife, and then treated as the lowest of slaves by the warden of the prison.

[1:00] Having now been elevated to a position of authority and honor, Joseph finally has an opportunity to go back and right some of these wrongs. He would replace the warden of the prison, settle accounts with Potiphar's wife, and go back to Canaan to let his brothers know who was really boss.

[1:20] Did Joseph actually carry out any of these schemes? No, he did not. Instead, he did something quite remarkable. He forgot.

[1:33] He forgot the pain, the injustice, and the past wrongs done against him. Instead of dwelling on a painful past, he looked forward to a future of promise.

[1:44] How? How? How could Joseph just forget all of those wrongs and all of those hurts? Did God just magically make him forget his past?

[1:55] No. But God did give him the grace to move on from his past. Why? Because the hurts and wrongs of Joseph's past were not to have an effect upon Joseph's present.

[2:08] Joseph understood that if God was not focused upon his past, then neither should he be. Joseph's past was used by God to prepare Joseph for his future.

[2:22] However, now that his past had done its work, it was time to forget the past and move on into the future that he had been prepared for. It is never easy to forget a painful past, but it is necessary if we want to move forward into a promised future.

[2:43] God will use painful situations to prepare us for a promised future, but when the pain has done its work, it is time to forget the pain and step forward into God's purpose.

[2:55] It is not that the pain isn't real or doesn't still hurt, but it is understanding that if God is not focused upon it, then neither should we be. Is there injustice in your past?

[3:09] Wrongs done to you? I dare say there are. But is that what God is calling you to focus on in the present? Or are those things simply the path by which he has brought you to a purpose he has prepared you for?

[3:25] There is only one injustice, one wrong done in our past that is to have any bearing upon our present or our future. The cross. 1 Corinthians 11.25 This cup is the New Testament in my blood.

[3:42] This do you as often as you drink it in remembrance. Father, thank you that through the injustice of the cross, you can forget all of the wrongs done against you, and I can forget all of the wrongs done against me.

[3:58] Help me today to focus upon what you are focused upon and to not be distracted by an unchangeable past when I have before me an unimaginable future.

[4:10] Amen. Amen.