When you experience tragedy or loss, unless you get help, you can shut down emotionally and remain stuck. And when you focus on the pain of the past, you risk forfeiting the blessing God has for you in the future. If anyone had reason to give in to despair and quit, it was Joseph. Those who should have loved him resented and betrayed him. He was slandered, lied about, and falsely imprisoned. How did he survive it? Four times in Genesis 39, the Bible says, ‘The Lord was with Joseph.’ Having a sense of God’s presence will sustain you through things that would otherwise destroy you. Joseph knew it was in forgiving and forgetting rather than holding on to resentment that he was setting himself free and positioning himself to fulfil his divine destiny. How do we know this? Because of what he named his two sons. ‘Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.” And the name of the second he called Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”’ Who enabled Joseph to forget the pain inflicted on him by his family? God! What enabled him to overcome the injustices inflicted upon him by others? A daily sense of God’s presence. And today, God’s presence will do that for you too. His promise to you is, ‘When you pass through the waters, I will be with you…When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned…For I am the Lord your God’ (Isaiah 43:2-3 NKJV).

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.