Just like fear, there is a fix for shame. Some have tried to reason their way through the guilt, but still find it hard to get passed the failure. Still others openly decide to just walk through the sin of this life proudly, ignoring the implications. The kind of fix that I have come to discover for my own shame, has completely obliterated the desire for those past sins and guilt. I can walk forward through life confident and strengthened. What is this fix?
Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. - Isaiah 1:18
Look at the beginning of this verse. "Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord." That right there speaks of three aspects of God.
God is relational.
God is desperate for me.
God wants to fix the shame.
I remember pushing God out of my life because I thought I had to fix it all on my own. I couldn't seem to conquer the failures that were creating the shame and I couldn't face Him because of it. Seeing all that beautiful snow this weekend covering the grey and ugly earth made me think of the power of God that makes me new. It reminded me of when I finally realized that God was not to be feared when I experienced shame. I could come to Him and we could sit down and talk through the pain and guilt. Not only did God take me in His arms, He changed my heart. Made me more like Him.
For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. - Isaiah 50:7
It all sounds like it happened over night, but it didn't. It was a loooooonnnng process of getting to know Him and finding out that I did like having Him around. Once I realized that He was the only thing that was going to make me a strong woman, I began to desire His character in my life. Just being in His presence can change your heart. Consciously spending time with Him in nature or reading His Word and talking with Him, will develop us into the people He wants us to be. White as snow... and perfect.
But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be made perfect and complete, lacking nothing. - James 1:4
All that shame that we hold onto seems stuck for good. God is promising us that we can live with the weight off our shoulders and walk straight. We can come boldly before Him each time that we fail. It takes faith to believe that those sins we struggle with will be conquered. It takes time, patience, and focusing on Christ.
