Fear of Shame

“No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.”  Psalm 25:3

Today’s verse is successive to the two from yesterday.  It continues the theme about God not allowing us to be put to shame.  This is important because many of us suffer from a secret fear of failure or embarrassment. 

The definition of shame is:  disgrace; humiliation; often at the hands of the enemy.  Being put to shame often involves a fear of public embarrassment, ridicule or rejection. 

Have you ever noticed that God never leads us to do anything that we can do within our own strength?  There is always a faith-factor to the tasks that God assigns us or calls us to do.  Many people never fulfill their God-ordained destiny because of their fear of failure or humiliation.         It is hard to witness to our neighbor or speaks publicly at church- even testifying about a blessing in our lives can be hard.  Why is that?  I believe part of the reason goes back to our feeling self-conscious and foolish.  What if we say it wrong?  What if we make someone mad?  What if we make a fool of ourselves?

We can step out with confidence and trust and begin to obey God, knowing that this verse has “got our back.”  Does that mean we will never misspeak or have an embarrassing moment?  Probably not; but it does mean that God will turn things around for our good.  It does mean that he will shine His favor and approval on us and keep us from being utterly destroyed by it.

As a female minister, I have often worried about tripping when going up and down off of the platform.  Wearing heals and a longer dress hem at times would cause me to worry and fret.  Because, honestly, what could be more humiliating than literally falling on your face publicly?  When our miracle baby was a little over a year old, he took off running during service.  Because of the lay-out of the church (we have a large open area in the back; and it slopes downhill toward the platform) my little one got a pretty good head start on me.  So I tried to walk briskly- yet discretely- down a side aisle to catch him.  Right as he reached the front, instead of going out the door to the back where he had seen his friend go, he took a sharp left and headed straight for the Pastor where he was still preaching.  I quickly stepped up my pace and made a sharp turn as well- but my high heel did not.  So here I am in the middle of a service rolling up under the altar at the foot of the Pastor.  He was great about it.  Not wanting to draw undue attention to me- he gestured like Vanna White and declared- “Ladies and Gentlemen:  Your Associate Pastor!”

My lowest moment?  Maybe.  My most embarrassing moment?  Without a doubt.  Did my church family let it go quickly?  Not hardly.  I am still living it down 3 years later.  But one thing is sure- I no longer worry about falling and being embarrassed. It has already happened and I survived. 

I realized a hard truth through all of this.  A lot of our fears of shame go back to a spiritual issue- a pride issue to be exact. I urge you today to let it go.  Put your trust in God knowing that you will never be ultimately put to shame.  In Christ you are more than a conqueror.  In Christ, you have the victory.  What harm can a little life do you?

Dear Lord, help me to let go of my fear of public humiliation, shame or disgrace.  Help me to step out in faith knowing that you will cover and protect me.  Forgive me for the spirit of pride.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri