“Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
And remember no more the reproach…”
Anyone who is familiar with this verse will say, “Hey, wait a minute! That is about a woman being barren and widowed!” And she would be right. However, God in His mercy used these verses to encourage me and to give me hope for the future, so I pass them on to you.
Shame. Disgrace. Humiliation. Reproach. On the emotional scale, they have a pretty high number. They sit like heavy lumps in our hearts, and they coat us with an ugly aura not found in the beautiful colors of the rainbow. We walk around thinking, “Everyone knows! They can tell!” At least, that’s how we feel. God doesn’t see us that way, but we feel that way.
God assures us that someday we will forget the shame of our youth. This is incredible. Not only can He take away the pain every time we remember our past but He can also heal our minds so much that we will not even remember the shame anymore.
This has been completely true in my life, and I know if can be for you, too. At first, you remember many terrible things. They come at you in your waking hours and in your sleeping. They are painful. They feel like they are too much to bear. You cry out to God. Then as He touches you with His healing hands, those recollections become less painful. You still remember them, but they don’t carry the sting they once did. Later, as you continue to allow God to heal you, the past doesn’t flash before your eyes as often as it did before. It doesn’t visit you in the night hours. It becomes less looming, and you are more aware of the present and what is happening around you now. One day, you will wake up and realize that you haven’t even thought of those past days for months. The constant parade of memories is gone and so are the shame, the pain, and the humiliation.
You will not always feel like this month’s poster child for abuse. Someday it will not be part of your thinking or your acting. “The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create… the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more” (Isaiah 65:17–19). “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bar of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high” (Leviticus 26:13, italics mine).
Are there times when you feel humiliated because of someone’s sins against you in the past? Do you remember those sins and feel disgraced? Do you hang your head in shame because of another’s perversity visited upon you? Are you embarrassed or do you feel guilty for having needs? Take time to write down your thoughts and share them with God. Today’s verse has precious promises signed in God’s own handwriting. Believe them, for He will do them in your life.
This a page from the book When God Roared. Each page will be published, one per day, on this website. We pray that God uses it mightily in your life to swaddle you in His love and heal your precious heart.