Genesis 36-41: Fruitful in the Land of Suffering

Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” The second son he named Ephraim and said, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” -Gen. 43:14-15 NIV

Why is it so hard for us to see this; that often we are being made fruitful in the midst of our suffering.  While Joseph may have felt that he was forgotten and abandoned during the years that he spent in prison, he never was.  It was in retrospect that he could look back and see that the hand of God was at work all the time.  Not only was God at work, but the fruit that was produced by the the events in Joseph's life was greater than that which would have occurred had he led an uneventful life with success but no suffering.  If not for prison, Joseph would never been in a position to interpret Pharaoh's dreams and subsequently would never have been put in the position where he was in charge of everything in Egypt.  As Joseph told his brothers, And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.  For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping.  But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.  "So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.- Gen. 45:5--8 NIV

It is never God's will to harm us, but to make us fruitful in the land of suffering.