About 75 years ago, there was a woman named Florence Chadwick who was the 1st woman swim the English Channel BOTH WAYS. Then, in 1952, she decided to swim from Catalina Island, to the shore of California, a distance of about 22 miles. The day she chose to swim turned foggy and chilly as she began her swim and she could hardly see the boats accompanying her. Still, she swam steadily for 15 hours…and then begged to be taken out of water. Her mother was in a boat alongside her and told her that she was close and that she could make it.
Physically and emotionally exhausted, Florence just stopped swimming and was pulled out. It wasn’t until she was aboard the boat that she discovered the shore was less than half mile away. At a news conference the next day, she said, “All I could see was the fog…. I think if I could have seen shore, I would have made it.” (Randy Alcorn 50 Days of Heaven p.3)
SHE COULD HAVE MADE IT!!! It was only another ½ a mile. But Florence Chadwick didn’t give up because she was NOT strong enough to finish. She gave up because she became discouraged. She couldn’t see the shore so she lost her faith. Her discouragement… blinded her.
In today’s text, we read about a man named Joseph. Joseph had TWO boys and the names he gave them would seem to indicate that he’d gotten discouraged at one point in his life.
One of the boys he named: Manasseh. “Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, for God has made me forget all my HARDSHIP and all my father’s house”. And the other “he called Ephraim, ‘For God has made me fruitful in the land of my AFFLICTION.’”
His HARDSHIP… and his AFFLICTION? What’s that all about? What had happened to Joseph that would make him name his kids in that way? Well, it goes back to his youth. He had ten older half-brothers who basically hated him, and they hated him because their dad loved Joseph better than them. And even God seemed to like him better…
God gave Joseph 2 dreams that indicated that the older brothers would one day bow down and honor Joseph - and that didn’t go over real well with them. In fact, these brothers became so angry with Joseph that one day they got Joseph off by himself, they threw him in a pit and planned to kill him. But then, along came a caravan of slave traders … and they sold him.
But as a slave in Egypt - things went well for him. That is… until his master’s wife fell in love with him. When he refused her advances, she accused him of attempting to rape her and her husband believed her and threw Joseph in prison.
For about 17 years Joseph was a captive in Egypt - first as a slave, then as a prisoner. In all that time he had no hope of seeing his home or family ever again. And that was HARDSHIP. And that was AFFLICTION. And that was why he named his sons Manasseh and Ephraim.
Now oddly enough – Joseph never seemed to have pity parties. When he was sold into slavery he was the best slave he could be. He was such a good slave that his master put him in charge of everything. Then, when he was in prison, he was the best prisoner he could be and the Warden of the prison made him a trustee.
Almost 1/3rd of the book of Genesis is focused on Joseph’s life but you NEVER read of him being discouraged. Except when we read about him naming his two sons.
It would seem that Joseph had every reason to be discouraged but that didn’t happen. Why not? Why was Joseph able to avoid being filled with dismay and despair? For 17 years he lived as a slave and a prisoner never expecting to see his home and family again. He didn’t deserve to be treated like that. How could Joseph avoid being blinded by discouragement?
The answer is found in our text: 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." Genesis 41:51-52
Notice what Joseph did! In the midst of difficulties…he focused on God. GOD MADE ME FORGET. GOD MADE ME FRUITFUL.
And Joseph was so connected to God that that was his mindset all through his captivity. For example, in Genesis 39 we read the story of Joseph’s slavery and imprisonment. And in that chapter, we read these words:
“THE LORD WAS WITH JOSEPH, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master.
His master saw that THE LORD WAS WITH HIM and that the LORD caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. Genesis 39:2-3
(THEN LATER…when Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph of attempted rape)
Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison. But THE LORD WAS WITH JOSEPH and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Genesis 39:20-21
“The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because THE LORD WAS WITH HIM. And whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed. Genesis 39:23
Notice: FOUR TIMES in that chapter we’re told - THE LORD WAS WITH HIM!
Four times! Now, the phrase does show up ONCE in stories about Samuel, David, Hezekiah and a couple others, but Genesis 39 is the only chapter where that phrase shows up FOUR TIMES.
Why does it show up so often in Joseph’s story? Well, it shows up so often because Joseph knew God was with him. And that was the secret that kept Joseph from being blinded by discouragement.
Now, everybody gets discouraged every once in a while - and some people get discouraged a lot more than that - but there’s a couple of things I’d like us to consider about discouragement this morning
The first is this: take a look at this graphic “DIS-COURAGE”. Do you see something embedded in that word discourage? That’s right – COURAGE.
Now discourage has a “sister word” called “EN-COURAGE”. Notice, courage is part of that word too. The only difference between those two words… is the 1st two or 3 letters. They’re called “pre-fixes” and they modify the main word.
The “DIS” prefix means to “take away” or “remove”. Thus “DIS-courage” means something has taken away or removed your courage. The “EN” prefix means “in” or “PUT IN”. Thus “EN-courage” means something has put courage INTO you.
So, let’s look at that word. “DISCOURAGE” first. What could take away OR remove our courage? Well a lack of courage can come when we face situations we can’t control. We feel helpless, vulnerable, and weak. We’re faced with dangers we can’t understand or deal with.
That’s what happened to Joseph. He found himself in a foreign land with no chance of getting home. He was a slave and he was trapped in his slavery. He couldn’t change the fact that he was not his own man. And when he was a prisoner, he was locked behind doors he’d never be able to open.
You could understand if he got discouraged.
Now, none of you are in physical slavery in a foreign land, and none of you are prisoners in a physical jail. But YOU MIGHT BE slaves to circumstances you can’t control. YOU MIGHT BE imprisoned in situations you can’t overcome
• It could be a health issue
• Or a relationship that’s falling apart
• Or a job that makes you feel miserable
And the list could on and on…
It’s situations like that - that can rob you of courage and hope, and they can blind you with discouragement. So, what can you do about that? How do you get your courage back?
Well, the only way to get back the courage you’ve lost is to find your courage … somewhere else. But where? Where are you going to get this EN-COURAGMENT? Where are you going to get Courage that can be put INTO you?
The same place Joseph did… from God. Joseph looked to God for his strength
GOD MADE ME FORGET
GOD MADE ME FRUITFUL
GOD WAS WITH ME through all my difficulties.
Have you ever heard the phrase “God will never leave you or forsake you?” It’s in the book of Hebrews. But Hebrews was actually quoting Moses from Deuteronomy 31:8 where Moses told Joshua “The LORD is the One who will go before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.” (HCSB version)
God said the same thing to Joshua after Moses died: “The LORD told Joshua “Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 (HCSB version)
Now, I can’t explain that. I don’t know how that works. I just know it works! And it’s a repetitive theme throughout the Bible. In fact it show up in one of my favorite passages in Philippians 4:4-7
“Rejoice in the Lord always; I will say it again, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand (He’ll never leave you nor forsake you). Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Spend your time talking to God… focusing on God).
(If you do that) the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
It passes ALL understanding. It doesn’t make any sense. It shouldn’t work - BUT IT DOES! I can’t explain it… but it works. Someone once said “If you are ever to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might, your strength will be born in a storm.” – Streams in the Desert
The thing is to realize that you and I are weak… but God isn’t. As God told the Apostle Paul: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9
It’s when we learn to trust that God will never leave us or forsake us that we regain our courage,
CLOSE There was the story of a single woman named Gladys Aylward who became a missionary to China. She loved the Chinese people, but WWII was beginning and she was forced to flee the invading Japanese army. She was torn by the belief that she couldn’t just leave the people she loved to suffer, especially the many orphans there - so, with only one assistant to help her, she led more than 100 children over the mountains to reach freedom.
During that long and hard journey she began to struggle with despair and discouragement. There was no way they’d ever reach safety. The children would starve and die on the way and she couldn’t stop it from happening.
It became obvious to the children that their leader was losing hope and not sleeping and so, one morning a 14 year old girl in the group reminded her about their much loved story of Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. The Israelites survived… and so would they. The missionary bitterly cried out “But I am not Moses!” And the girl replied “Of course you aren’t. But Jehovah is still God!” (Russ Lawson on Heartlight.org 4/3/09)
But this is the rest of the story: At last they came to a river they couldn’t cross and for four days they were trapped there. At one point a young child asked “why does God not open the waters of the Yellow River for us to cross as He did for the Israelites?’ For a moment she paused. She thought “I cannot open these vast waters? I have no power other than the power of my own faith.” But then she told the children: ‘Let us all sing a hymn to God. And perhaps soon our prayers will be answered.’
And believe it or not - not far away, an army of Chinese soldiers… heard the children singing. When soldiers came to where the children where they supplied food for the children, and boats to cross the river. And Gladys’ children made their way to safety. (“The Small Woman” by Alan Burgess,)
