Dealing with My Own Shame.
2.10.21
Journal Entry #4
It’s time for a moment of honesty and self-reflection. Think about this: if you are so worried about what people think about you then it will block you from having that reverential fear of the Lord. Dealing with shame is not easy. You are going to need to have that trust in God that says when He tells me to do something it is in my best interest to do so. Fearing what others think or say about you can be blocking you from fearing God. I want to motivate you to think about how much thought you’re putting into what other’s think about you.
Let’s look at Hosea. In Hosea 1, God told Hosea to marry a prostitute. A prostitute you guys… God told Hosea to marry a prostitute. That’s wild! To understand why I’m tripping right now I want you to understand the times here. Society then took honor and shame seriously! If you were to do anything wrong, you were getting stoned. They had no respect for a woman that has been with multiple men. In those times, marrying a prostitute was probably one of the most shameful things a man of God could do. Yet, there was no mention of Hosea being ashamed of his wife. But it’s gets better. In Hosea 3, his wife cheats on him with another man and God told him to go get his wife. How many men would have really gone to go get their cheating wife? Not just go get her… he had to buy her back because think about, she sold her body for money. God told Hosea to go get his wife back and he did just that. Hosea had more fear and reverence for God than he did for what people were saying about him. Hosea had to have known that people were talking about him, but he did it anyway.
When we fear God, it is like saying “I know God knows what’s best for me, so I am going to trust Him and do what He says. If I don’t do what He says, then I will not end up in a good place like God wanted me to.” We have to care more about God telling us to get rid of this shame then we care about what people will think when they find out what we are ashamed of. Sometimes we don’t even consider dealing with the shame because all we can think about is what people will think about us when they find out what we are ashamed of.
We’ve been working on ways to fear the Lord. We’ve looked at ways He was mighty in the Bible, we went outside and stood in awe of His creation, and now I think we need to see how He’s been showing up in our lives. When you know how awesome God is, you’ll want to fear him. Let’s make a list of ways he has shown up and shown out in our lives. God has done so much so take your time. There’s no way you’ll recall every single time but write down as many as you can. Feel free to share them with me or someone you know! Going over your list will hopefully give you more understanding how good God is.
Love Always,
Alexandra