Owen Jones –  www.gallery.oldbookart.com  by Owen Jones from "The History of Joseph and His Brethren" – Public Domain

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. – Genesis 41:51

For Joseph, toil had meant slavery. It was a reminder that he had been rejected by his brothers, separated from his father, maligned by his master’s wife, and imprisoned on false charges. It meant that his dreams had been nearly crushed under the weight of cynicism. Toil was slavery and slavery embodied every painful memory in his life until the day that a son came into his life.

Slavery-styled toil is, to most people, dead-end work. It is the spinning of wheels, the thankless, meaningless, uninspired labor of those who do not share in the profit or mission of the tasks that occupy their days. Solomon said it was good to work, but included it in his list of things that were really vanity and striving after wind.

Toil – trading time for dollars or food, going nowhere, contributing nothing, being beaten down and unappreciated for one’s efforts. That is slavery.

Joseph came through his toils. So did John Newton. So have we. And in the process, something miraculous has happened. We’ve come through and we have forgotten the pain.

What did it mean for Joseph to name his son, Manasseh? In part it meant that whatever suffering he had experienced in the past was overshadowed by the joy of this glorious moment. It was worth it all to hold that little boy in his hands. It was new life, the same way every new day and every new year brings us new life.

What toils and painful memories do you bring to this moment? God has birthed something new in your life that has become your Manasseh. You can leave behind the agonies of slavery and the bondage of sin. You don’t have to live under the shadow of unpleasant memories or be haunted by regrets and rejection.

It is a new day – whatever the calendar says. It is a new hour – whatever the clock says. This very moment marks the beginning of your new life if you will name it so.

Name it and move on.