“Divine Amnesia”
February 28, 2022
Has someone ever forgotten about you, or forgotten to fulfill a request you made of them? It can be very difficult for us when someone does not remember us. Has anyone ever offended you and you find it difficult to forget the offense? Have you ever said, I can forgive but I cannot forget?
Joseph, in the book of Genesis, chapters 37-50, knew much about being forgotten, and also about forgetting offenses. Joseph had been forgotten and offended by his brothers, in particular, forgotten by Potiphar, and forgotten by the Pharaoh’s cupbearer, to name a few. Joseph was a forgotten and offended man.
In Genesis 40, we read about Joseph interpreting the imprisoned cupbearer’s dream, and how Joseph asked the cupbearer to remember this to Pharaoh. Joseph’s hope was that his deed would be his “get out of jail card”. However, the butler forgot to remember Joseph to Pharaoh, and life went on for the butler who was restored to the service of the Pharaoh, while life also went on for Joseph who was retained in prison. Joseph was a forgotten man, but he was not forgotten by God, who was working outside of the prison walls.
The life of Joseph and how he was forgotten and offended, makes me wonder if there was a “divine amnesia” of sorts going on in the mind of the cupbearer. In Genesis 40, when the cupbearer forgot to tell Pharaoh about the dream interpretation, I wonder if it was God who caused the cupbearer to forget because of the bigger picture of what God was working out down the road for Joseph. If Joseph had been released from prison in Genesis 40, he most likely would have gotten out of Dodge, or Egypt, and returned to his father and family in Canaan. If so, then Joseph would not have been around for Genesis 41 when the Pharaoh had dreams that needed to be interpreted, and the cupbearer finally remembered Joseph and his ability to interpret the Pharaoh’s troublesome dreams.
In return for Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams, Pharaoh made Joseph the second most powerful person in the known world. What a strange day for Joseph! He woke up in a prison pit and by day’s end he was serving in the palace! All of this was God’s timing for He was preparing Joseph, while he was in prison, to become the second most powerful man on the earth. This position of leadership was used to save Egypt from an agricultural catastrophe!
As the story of Joseph’s life continues, we learn he named his first born son, Manasseh, which means “to forget”.
51 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. (Genesis 41:51)
Was this divine amnesia once again? Joseph named his son Manasseh, because God made Joseph forget the offenses and hardship of the previous 13 years in Egypt!
Amy Carmichael, Christian missionary in India, once said, “If I say, “Yes, I forgive but I cannot forget’, as though the God, who twice a day washes all the sands on all the shores in all the world, could not wash such memories from my mind, then I know NOTHING of Calvary love.”
It is quite a challenge for all of us when someone doesn’t remember us. It is also quite a challenge to forget how others have offended us. However, I think we need to remember that God never forgets about us, and He is always willing to forgive our sins and remember them no more. He places our sins as far as the east is from the west. That’s quite the divine amnesia!
“As far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12)
We also need to remember that when we are forgotten by people, and offended by others, God may possibly be using divine amnesia to bring us out of our pits and place us in the palace of His service!