WEDNESDAY- 9TH AUGUST, 2023
MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO
MANASSEH AND EPHRAIM
Genesis 48:8-9, KJV
"8 And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these? 9 And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them".
As typical of aged people, Jacob asked (as if he was never privy of them), "who are these?" Joseph replied, "they are my sons whom God has given me in this place". "In this place' means "here in Egypt".
One landmark and unforgettable experience in Joseph's life is his travelling to a foreign land. It defined a lot about him and was even the heart of the fulfilment of his call (which he saw in dreams afore time). However, our deliberation is on how these two sons derived their names.
Genesis 41:50-52, KJV
"50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him. 51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house. 52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction".
He called the first, "Manasseh" and thereby attached the purpose of his calling to it. He said, "because God has made me forget my toil and all of my father's house". That is necessary! All of us know Joseph is Jacob's most beloved. Joseph knows what the father's love is and if there's ever one thing he misses while in servitude, it'll be his father's house, the comfort and shelter it has to give. Now, he's nothing but a slave. He's exposed to every form of inhumanity which makes him remember and reminisce in often flashbacks to the comfort with which his father comforted him. However, God who reigns supreme over all creations made him forget his father's house and whatsoever care it has had to offer. God compensated Joseph by the promotion and blessing of favour which culminates in his becoming a governor over the entire Egypt. A man who every knee bows to. On that note of having being comforted and greatly recompensed, he opens his mouth and calls forth his first born as "Manasseh". It means God has made me forget my father's house and all my servitude toils". Now is compensation and recompense time and I have been blessed and over blessed until I'm now swallowed up by blessing itself. May God supremely let the better swallow the bitter in your life. God is a payer. He's a restorer and He could pay you back according to the days you have wept or mourn. No loss in God. He'll so much recompense you that you'll forget all your toils and esteem less what used to give joy compared to what God would now give you.
The second name of Joseph's son is Ephraim and he as well attached a purpose to that. He said, "because God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction". It's not everybody who survives the lands of their affliction. The Blacks all over the world survived their different lands of affliction either in Brazil, U.S.A or the Caribbean. They rose from having endured much diminishing to growing into great people who owns businesses and does their things. Yet, despite all the hindrances. The same could be said of the Jews worldwide. They're always thriving people irrespective of the soil you plant them into. So, Joseph in reminisce named his second born Ephraim because God has multiplied, increased and given him a bounty even in the land of affliction. What I quickly want you see is that the expression, "affliction' contradicts "fruitfulness". In affliction, fruitfulness is stunted or all together exterminated but there's a testimony that can follow you which is to multiply and give your increase even in affliction and when strictly curtailed. The Israelites did and that's the Christian's experience if interpreted. Even when you're pressed on all sides, you're destined to still bring forth your best and rarest of wine. See.
Exodus 1:12, KJV
"But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel".
Did you read, "the more they afflicted them; the more they multiplied". That's very oxymoronic! It so much contrasts itself. No one naturally grows under affliction. They're pressed, choked and left to die but these ones survived. Joseph did also. He not only survived but he was fruitful or floral with initiative, wisdom and nuggets for nation/economy building and even in the fruits of his body. It's in Egypt he acquired a family and got satisfied with every good thing any longing soul desires. So, he names his second born "Ephraim".
God will do two things for you this morning. He wants you to forget your toil and be comforted over having lost your greatest source of happiness. God does this by raising a better fountain for us. If you have lost something that should comfort you yet you have experienced much toil in this life, first you'll receive a restoration that's better, so much more that you'll forget your toil. Hear me, you can forget your toil. When people forget their toils, it is experiencial experienced in the fact that even though they've once been inside the furnace, the furnace will not in any way be smelt on them anymore. They'll be all cured and recovered from the power and harm of their hardships.
Secondly, God wants to make you a fruitful vine. Jacob identified Joseph as that when he says, "Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall" (Gen.49:22). Did you see that? Imagine a plant whose branches runs over the wall. He also identifies he has been grieved and worried by archers but sustained and made strong by God's mighty hand (23-24). All these are God's acts which you'll receive today. You'll forget that evil past because a good tomorrow shall supplant it! I see you spreading your tentacles - a great manifestation of florallness.
PRAYER: Lord, I thank you because you have made me forgotten my toil and my past. I see and receive a new future. I grow like a fruitful bough.
BIBLE IN A YEAR: Ezra 8:21-9:15; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; Psalm 31:1-8; Proverbs 21:1-2
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