Our memory can be our worst enemy. Old wounds and hurts are not easily forgotten. Failures and regrets haunt us like ghosts. Perhaps you can relate to Joseph in some way. He had suffered rejection, been lied about, and forgotten in prison. Those events can’t be erased from your memory like old data on a computer. While we may not be able to erase those memories, we can’t allow them to keep us from moving forward.
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had a troubling dream that needed interpreted. The magicians and wise men of Egypt were unable to interpret the dream. The chief butler, who at one time shared a prison cell with Joseph, and who had forgotten him for awhile, finally remembered Joseph. Pharaoh’s butler said, “Pharaoh was wroth with his servant, and put me in ward in the captain of the guards’ house, both me and the chief baker: And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.” He explained that Joseph had correctly interpreted their dreams, and both dreams came to pass.
Pharaoh didn’t hesitate to call for Joseph to come interpret the dream. Joseph’s previous trials had been preparing him for this moment. Joseph didn’t sulk in the pain of his past. Alternatively, Joseph shaved himself, changed his clothes and went to Pharaoh. Upon hearing Joseph’s interpretation of the dream, and his wise counsel, Pharaoh promoted him to second in command in all of Egypt.
Joseph overseen the seven years of harvest in Egypt, and prepared for the seven years of famine. He married an Egyptian girl who gave Joseph two sons – Manasseh and Ephraim. The names are significant. Manasseh means to “forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.” Ephraim means “For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
If your present and future are going to be fruitful, then you need to forget your past. Your past has played an important role in who you are today. You can either allow those hurts to paralyze you, or propel you to your future. You can either allow your past failures to cripple you, or compel you to move on. You can’t be fruitful, unless you learn how to be forgetful.