Forgive & Move On

We have all been hurt by someone at some point in our lives. Jesus promised us in John 16 that, “…in this world you will have trouble.” We are going to experience problems, we are going to be hurt by someone we love & trust. So what do we do when that happens?

I was reading the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis today and the Holy Spirit pointed out something out to me that I would like to share. Many of us are familiar with Joseph’s story. At the age of 17 he was sold into slavery by his own brothers. His own family, those who were supposed to love and look out for him, sold him for money. The Bible doesn’t specifically tell us how Joseph felt about this turn of events. I know how I would feel, I would feel angry and betrayed.

So Joseph was taken to Egypt where he was sold to a rich man. Life seemed to be getting better, he was in a big house with plenty of food. Joseph was put in charge of the whole household, so he had the run of the place. But then Joseph gets falsely accused of attempted rape. He was innocent, had done nothing wrong, but he was thrown in jail. Now if I were Joseph I would feel doubly angry and betrayed. Not only was he betrayed by his own family, but then his "employer", for whom he had worked faithfully, betrayed him.

Again the Bible doesn’t tell us how Joseph felt about all this other than he wanted out of prison. Finally, after 13 years of slavery and imprisonment, at the age of 30 Joseph was made the second in command of the whole country of Egypt. The Bible says he married and had a son whom he named Manasseh. Now my Bible notes say that the name Manasseh is derived from the Hebrew word for forget. It seems that, at some point, Joseph made a conscious decision to forgive those who had hurt him and to let go of the past. Joseph marked the decision by naming his first born child “forget”.

Now this is pure speculation on my part, but what if God was using the betrayal of his brothers to teach Joseph a lesson in forgiveness? What if Joseph wasn’t responding to God’s lesson so the Lord upped the stakes by putting him in prison? What if Joseph was stuck in that prison until he finally decided to forgive his brothers and his former "employers"?

It’s been said that unforgiveness is like a prison we put ourselves into. We can’t move forward in life because we are locked in the past. In Isaiah 43:18-19 God tells the people of Israel, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I’m doing a new thing!” What that says to me is that God wants do a new thing in our lives. He wants to take us to new and better places. But we can’t go if we are held in the prison of our unforgiveness. That’s why God tells us to, like Joseph, forget what happened before; don’t dwell on the past. When we choose to do that then we, like Joseph, are set free from our prison and can walk into the glorious blessings God has for us, the new things He wants to do for us.

So if you are reading this and you are holding unforgiveness, it’s time to let that thing go. Unforgiveness is a prison that we build, we choose to sit in, and we hold the keys to the door. Choosing to forgive is like using those keys to open the door and release ourselves. I pray God will bless you abundantly today!