Fruitful in the Land of my Affliction

GEN 41:51-52 ESV

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."  The name of the second he called Ephraim, "For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."

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Joseph has had it hard. He was singled out by his father as the most loved of 12 boys. That's gotta hurt! The whole robe thing is embarrassing. He's sent by his Father to effectively be a nark and check up on his brothers. That's not going to make you popular. Then God gives Joseph these dreams that no one wants to hear, not even his father. He's tossed in a deep hole and then sold to his cousins as a slave and in turn sold in Egypt. Joseph does well though until a sex crazed woman lies about him. And He's tossed into another pit, jail. And again he does well and even gets a big break with the cupbearer to Pharaoh, only to be forgotten for another two years. So when Joseph is 30 he has a huge life change and comes into fame and fortune! And he is railroaded into marrying the daughter of a false religion's leader.

But Joseph makes the best of the situation and gets busy! Now he has two sons. Joseph's son's names are significant. In fact when the twelve tribes of Israel are named throughout all history you will not hear Joseph himself named. Instead you hear of Joseph's sons! Have you ever thought about the fact that built into the twelve tribes of Israel are two half Egyptian grandson's to the high priest of an Egyptian god? 

Sometimes we need another perspective. And nothing can quite give us a new vantage point like a newborn baby. All that a newborn encapsulates fills us with hope. They are needy, vulnerable, and full of possibility and still they are resilient and demanding.

Joseph sees a new future when God blesses him with sons. And the blessing erases the past and provides for the future.

Now I'd like to encourage each one of you to have sons! But I mean spiritual sons! You are not too old, too single, too afflicted to ask God to make your faith fruitful. What your church needs are new believers. What your family needs is someone who has newly come to trust Jesus. We need in the church today the hope that comes with people being born again. Wherever you are, whatever your state in life, I'm asking you to pray that God makes you fruitful! I'm asking that you hope for newborns in the kingdom of God. And I pray as they come you give them names, may be new names. In addition to brother or sister call them Hope! Name them Ephraim! 

As time goes on and God speaks of his people, he uses different tribes to refer to the whole or called them all Israel after Jacob's name change. When heartbroken over his people God's term of endearment in the book of Hosea is Ephraim. So an Egyptian boy whose grandfather was a very important religious leader for an Egyptian god and his other grandfather was a man who actually wrestled with the one true God of promise. Ephraim, the son of Joseph is a sign of fruitfulness that comes from affliction.