Shame On You

One Sunday we sang, “Ain’t No Grave” by Bethel Music. The lyrics talk about how shame and fear want to hold us down. “Oh, love is my redeemer lifting me up from the ground. Love is the power when my freedom song is found. There ain't no grave gonna hold my body down. When I hear that trumpet sound I'm gonna rise up outta the ground.” And one of my favorites, Laureen Daigle’s, “You Say.” The song begins with, “I keep fighting voices in my mind that say I'm not enough. Every single lie that tells me I will never measure up………..You say I am loved when I can't feel a thing. You say I am strong when I think I am weak. And you say I am held when I am falling short. And when I don't belong, oh You say I am Yours.” The words absolutely came to life.

Shame can come from many things: an affair, addictions, rape, multiple marriages, abortions, a child out of wedlock, divorce, getting fired from a job, abusive behavior, mistreating someone, stealing, bad decisions and the list goes on. A friend and I were talking about the sermon and how everyone has something they are ashamed of. Shame can have great power over us as it can control our lives and takes up unnecessary energy and time. It is a heavy burden! It weighs us down and causes us to hear lies in our head. It keeps us from being who God intends us to be. I have heard that shame is a soul eating emotion. Some people carry shame for many many years.

Shame has plagued us since Adam and Eve ate the apple. When they realized they were naked, they hid from each other and God. They were ashamed because they were standing guilty before God. Genesis 3: 7, "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves."

Adam and Eve were not the only ones. The woman at the well had five failed marriages and was now living with a man. Because she was full of shame, she waited to come to the well when the sun was blazing hot so she could draw water alone and hide from the comments, the whispers, and the condemning looks. John 4: 6-7, "Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”

In 2 Samuel 11: 2-5 we learn about a powerful man who abused his power to sleep with another man's wife and got her pregnant. "One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, 'She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.'  Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home.  The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, 'I am pregnant.'” Being afraid of being found out, David tried to hide behind a cover-up which turned into a murder.

All four of the Bible characters tried to hide in the wrong places because they carried shame. The woman at the well listened to Jesus and believed in Him. King David confessed his sin and repented. 2 Samuel 12: 13, "Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die." The good news or should I say great news is that they let God's power break the hold that shame held over them. They were set free! We can experience this freedom also!

Often times we hide in busyness in order not to deal with shame. We hide behind lies, we seem to introvert, procrastinate or even hide behind humor. But the only remedy for shame is

Jesus’s death and resurrection. Hebrews 9: 26, "Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself." When we run to Jesus He will cleanse us. 1 John 1: 9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." When we ask God for forgiveness, we are forgiven. God's love frees us to let go of the past and move forward. Romans 8: 1, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

If you are carrying shame, shame on you! Run to Jesus and be set free!