You are good.

I was reading in Genesis the other day about the life of Joseph, and when I reached this passage, I cried.

Genesis 42:51–52 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget 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.”

It may seem strange to cry at the naming of a stranger’s sons thousands of years before I was born, but MAN...when you consider Joseph’s life, these names bring the tears.

Joseph was a man marked by God; it says that everywhere he went, people recognized that the Lord was with him. He was marked not only by the presence of God, but by the favor of God.

Not too long ago, I was looking into the meaning of the word “favor” (because I’m a freak of nature who enjoys word studies), and one of the explanations that touched my heart said that when one is favored by the Lord, it means He spreads His goodness over them. Joseph was so vividly cloaked by the favor of the Lord...seriously, no matter where his foot stepped--be it a pit, a house of slavery, a prison cell, Pharaoh’s courts--he was set in a place of honor. Sometimes immediately, as in the case of Pharaoh who, after having met him ONE time, set him over his entire house and all the land of Egypt. The favor of the Lord is powerful stuff...who can cast down what the Lord raises up? Who can close doors that the Lord opens? Who can form a weapon strong enough to destroy what the Lord protects? No one.

So when I read this passage in Genesis 42, my mind ran through a list of Joseph’s many years of hardship and affliction (and they are vast and terrible)...and I delighted that Joseph exalted God for His goodness as he stood in that moment of a life he had not chosen, but had entrusted himself to God in.

Because lately, I feel like Joseph in verses 51–52; lately all I see is the goodness of the Lord spread out over my life. My days are filled with moments of realization of what the Lord has done for me: I see with vivid wonder how He has marked my life with His generous goodness...and it is not because I have left “the land of my affliction” behind me (yet).

So I just wanted to praise the Lord before you, because at this moment in my life, He “has made me forget my hardship” and “has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

The LORD has been good to me.

(I wrote this poem during prayer tonight.)

You are good
©hannah mclean 10-26-16

i look around
and all i see
is Your overflowing goodness
poured out on me

everywhere i turn
pictures fill my mind
of what was
what is
and what will be

Your goodness pulses with my pain
Your goodness billows from my storms
Your goodness streams beside my tears
Your goodness glistens through my distresses

Your goodness crowns the life i have lived

i stand
in the middle of life’s road
where circumstances, hazards and victories
have compiled the scenery around me
and i marvel
that all i see
is Your overwhelming goodness
lavished on me

to come and to worship

i just want to be with You
©10-3-16 hannah mclean

i just want to be with You
i just want to be with You
i come only to bow
and bring You worship
bring You praise
i just want to be with You
i just want to be with You
all of my days
all of my days
all of my days

Your presence brings me fullness
Your love lets me adore
Your life, it gives me wholeness
You are all my soul longs for
Your beauty fills with wonder
Your light is pure divine
Your kindness brings me to my knees
i’m Yours and You are mine

i just want to be with You
i just want to be with You
i come only to bow
and bring You worship
bring You praise
i just want to be with You
i just want to be with You
all of my days
all of my days
all of my days

adoration leads to exaltation
Your name rings out
as worthy of all praise

i just want to be with You
i just want to be with You
i come only to bow
and bring You worship
bring You praise
i just want to be with You
i just want to be with You
all of my days
all of my days
all of my days