THE MANASSEH BLESSING
by Steve Pegram

 

Genesis 41: 50-51, "And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which As'e-nath the daughter of Poti-phe'rah priest of On bare unto him. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Ma-nas'seh: For God, he said, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house."

It is interesting here to note that of all the names Joseph could have called his first born son, that he named him Manasseh. Why? Because the name Manasseh means something very special to Joseph. It means "the Lord has caused me to forget." What a marvelous testimony! After all that Joseph had gone through, after all of his bitter betrayal's and confusion concerning why his brothers did what they did, now in his finest moment of seeing his first born son, he boldly declares that God has blessed him so much, that he has now forgotten about all the bad he had to endure to get to this moment! I call that my friends, The Manasseh Blessing!

The Manasseh Blessing is when God comes through for you in such a marvelous way that no matter what you've gone through, it just doesn't matter because it all pales in comparison to the wonder working power of an awesome God! And when you focus your attention and eyesight on that God and what He can and has done for you, everything else seems significantly small.

But, how could Joseph move under the Manasseh Blessing? Surely, he had been through too much to ever really forget. Or could he? Let's look at all what he had to endure through his life up until now.

  1. He was hated by his brothers.
  2. He was plotted against.
  3. He had his coat of many colors taken.
  4. Was cast into a pit by his own brothers.
  5. Was sold into slavery to the Midianites.
  6. The Midianites then sold him to Egypt.
  7. He then became a slave to Potipher, an officer of Pharoah.
  8. Was tempted by Potipher's wife and then lied about by her.
  9. Was cast into prison.
  10. Was forgotten by the chief butler.
  11. He then spent two more years in prison.

Now, after all of that has happened to him, we see him in the story from Genesis 41 having his first born son. He has been through a lot. A whole lot! Probably if anyone had a right to be bitter, it was Joseph. If anyone had a right to complain, it was Joseph. But, he wasn't bitter and he didn't complain. Instead, he had trusted God and now God had given him a position of honor and is raised up by God as a shining testimony to the power and grace of a sovereign God.

So, now as he looks at his first born son, instead of naming him for some other thing that happened to him in the past, he looks at his present and at his future and him names him, Manasseh, meaning "the Lord has caused me to forget!" That's the Manasseh Blessing!

Right now as you read these words on this web site, God could very well be sending forth a Manasseh Blessing to you! You might have been through hell just to get to where you are right now, but God's going to cause you to forget! You may still be going through hell on earth right now, but God is going to cause you to forget! You may have had everything lately go wrong and hasn't nothing gone right, but the Lord is going to cause you to forget! The Manasseh Blessing is on its way! Don't worry. Everyone may have turned against you and you can't even remember how long you've been going through this mess, but God's going to turn it around and cause you to forget!

Get ready. It's on it's way! Watch out or it'll run over you. I'm talking about “The Manasseh Blessing!” God's getting ready to bless you so much that you're going to forget about all that bad stuff! The blessings on the way. Are you ready?