Message summary: In this message we consider how shame can actually be a good gift.

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"Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush" (Jeremiah 6:15). "David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the LORD, 'I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing'" (2 Samuel 24:10).

Yesterday our Sunday School lesson was on the subject of work. Bob, our teacher, shared a verse from 2 Thessalonians 3:10: "For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat". He pointed out to modern ears this might sound unloving or uncompassionate, but actually, as part of the whole counsel of God this verse has much to inform us.*

One aspect is the sense of shame we should have when we do wrong. There are many who have no shame at all in being idle, not working and providing for their own needs. In fact now many feel entitled and just expect someone else to work on their behalf. They have no shame.

Shame is defined as "a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior".

Have you ever done anything you are ashamed of? I sure have! Some I can recall and others I've forgotten, though I can well remember my parents' admonishment with the pointed index finger, "Aren't you ashamed of yourself?". Clearly, they were! Some memories of shame still sting to this day and I say to myself, "I can't believe I did that".

Today's message will likely be misunderstood by some, especially in light of our present age. After all, on the surface, what possible blessing is there from shame? Shame is certainly not something we seek after and if we are shamed we want it to dissolve very quickly before others take notice.

But I believe there is a blessing in shame when it is properly understood. I am blessed to have parents who knew when to appropriately put me to shame, which was a loving act and responsible discipline necessary in good child-rearing.

One memory involved using a swear word I probably learned in Junior High School which shall not be disclosed here (although even milder forms of slang words such as dang and darn were forbidden in our household. Brooksyne's folks took it a step further and forbade words such as gosh or golly). Why I would make the grave mistake of saying it in front of my mom I can't explain, but I can vividly remember getting my mouth washed out with liquid Ivory dish soap. Now she'd probably be reported for child abuse but it wasn't and it didn't hurt me, but it sure tasted awful! And obviously I remember it to this day.

Today it seems like so many have little to no shame, even when their attitude or behavior is reprehensible. We may say of such a person "they have no shame". Of course that has been the case with some all along but it sure seems the number and percentage is growing. In great part I believe it's due to the lack of having a firm mooring in the Biblical values of right and wrong.

The words "conscience-stricken" in the second daily text describes shame. Today we may speak of those "who have no conscience" meaning someone who just doesn't care about right and wrong. I read a sad news story that illustrated this. A man had been beaten and was left severely injured on the street. Passersby, rather than calling for help, picked through his belongings as he lay dying.

If I were to ask those who have some knowledge of the Bible to identify David's most famous sin, they'd likely recall his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and his feeble attempt to cover-up.

Second Samuel 24 chronicles David's less familiar recorded sin of taking a census. At one point I thought to myself, "David came to his senses about the census", unaware of my play on words.

It is difficult for us to understand the severity of this sin. But David himself seemed to consider it greater than his adultery, murder, and cover-up recorded in 2 Samuel 11 (compare 12:13 with 24:10). It certainly had a greater impact in terms of loss of life. We may on the surface be puzzled about the passage compared to our understanding of his sin with Bathsheba, which is easier for us to grasp. That was a sin of the flesh; here we have a sin of the spirit involving pride, self-sufficiency and presumption.

Today let us consider two senses in which shame is a good gift:

A great mark of a godly man is repentance, and even as David had greatly sinned, he greatly repented. His response was one, though slow in coming, of humility and responsibility. He didn't obfuscate the offense, he didn't pass the buck, he didn't blame others, he didn't cry out "I'm a victim". What a contrast to the modern response to sin, seen from the top national level on down. Let us follow David's model in his heart of repentance.

Let us recognize shame as a gift.

Be encouraged today!  Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber