Can you remember a time when you've experienced a painful emotion excited
by a consciousness of guilt, or of having done something which has injured
your reputation? If so, then shame has settled on you! Shame is often
or always manifested by a downcast look, or by blushes, scripturally referred
to as "confusion of face"....
Daniel 9:8, "O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings,
to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee."
As you can see in the above verse, I underlined the root reason for such
emotional discomfort. Ultimately, sinning against God is the cause of
our shame and it heightens our awareness of our actions, our words and
our thoughts, thus causing a red color to suddenly appear on our faces.
It is an expression unlike any other. As the Lord would have it, shame
cannot be hidden! Ladies, if you and I care to avoid future painful dealings
with shame, then it would behoove us to look to the Lord for guidance
in this important matter, amen? Let's avoid that which brings confusion
to our faces....
Foolishness Leads To Shame
Proverbs 3:35, "The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion
of fools."
Laziness Leads To Shame
Proverbs 10:5, "He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that
sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame."
Pride Leads To Shame
Proverbs 11:2, "When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly
is wisdom."
Neglect Leads To Shame
Proverbs 29:15, "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to
himself bringeth his mother to shame."
As we ponder these verses, we learn from those little punctuation marks
in each verse (the colons), that God's desire is such that His children
never have to experience shame. There is an alternative to a red face!
Shame is something we choose for ourselves when we sin against God and
travel down the paths mentioned above. Those who belong to the Lord must
sport a different countenance....
1 Cor. 14:33, "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as
in all churches of the saints."
Ladies, Satan seeks to put confusion in our hearts and upon our faces!
He seeks to steal your peace with God and erase the peaceful countenance
of those who live in willful obedience to Him. The devil enjoys your painful
dealings with shame! He loves red faces and lives filled with disobedience...
Jeremiah 3:25, "We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us:
for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from
our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord
our God."
Each time we succumb to our own desires and go after that which is against
God, we have succeeded in pleasing our enemy. We have actually put peace
upon his face as he rests, once again, in luring us away from the Lord!
Do you like knowing that? I don't! It makes me doubly ashamed of myself...
Psalm 71:1, "In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to
confusion."
Psalm 119:31, "I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O Lord, put me not to
shame."
In closing, when is the last time you blushed over the sudden realization
of your disobedience to God?? No doubt the old expression "Shame on you!"
is rooted in the scriptures, for we should be disgraced and embarrassed
before the Lord for our sinful behavior! Acknowledge the righteousness
of God and confess the sins that have afforded you nothing but guilt and
shame and remove it from your reputation. Then purpose in your heart to
do right and let your peace with God settle down upon your countenance...
As long as we trust the Lord and follow His Word, we'll never have to
experience shame and be overrun by evil, for it is not a result of obedience.
It's far better to be stuck to the Lord's testimonies than stuck with
a red face!
God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 2001 Pamela A. Iannello
