David is under siege from every direction. David’s troubles are mounting to a level he has never known before. He feels weak and under duress. In one of his early poems, while running from King Saul, David the besieged warrior poet pens these haunting words, in Psalm 31:9-11
“Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress;
my eyes grow weak with sorrow,
my soul and body with grief.
My life is consumed by anguish
and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak.
Because of all my enemies,
I am the utter contempt of my neighbors and an object of dread to my closest friends—those who see me on the street flee from me.
I am forgotten as though I were dead;
I have become like broken pottery.”
David is battling not just with his oppressors, but deep shame. He feels abandoned by his closest allies. He feels as if his whole life is a loss. New York Times best-selling author, blogger, and Sociologist Dr. Brené Brown defines shame this way,
“Shame is basically the fear of being unlovable—it’s the total opposite of owning our story and feeling worthy. In fact the definition of shame that I have developed from my research is: Shame is intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging. Shame keeps worthiness away by convincing us that owning our stories will lead to people thinking less of us. Shame is all about fear.”
After ten thousand interviews, Brené Brown has concluded that the shame area for women almost always centers around their looks and appearance; for men, it is the fear of weakness.
Satan knows our weaknesses as men and women and it is the realm of shame that he comes to steal our desires, kill our hearts, and destroy our femininity and masculinity (John 10:10).
There is a deep father wound that haunts most of us! We have a new Father, a heavenly Father who fully loves you and accepts you! When you give your life to Christ, you receive a new heart, a new spirit. He alone can break the power of shame over your life!
Eight years ago, God broke the power of shame over my life. Though I still struggle with thoughts of shame, nothing like the haunting bondage I once experienced. I now walk in new freedom.
You also can experience the joy and freedom of living a shameless unshakable life in the power of the Holy Spirit! In my next blog, I will share the steps to freedom from shame.
Pastor Steve