Be Not Ashamed

Today I want to look at Psalms 25. It is a Psalm full of powerful truths and a Psalm of hope and confidence in God.

What caused David to pen these word? It was his concern of being put to shame. What is shame?  It is a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior. I don't know at what point in David's life he wrote this Psalm, but king David understood shame and he understood enemies. He had his share of both.

He starts out by saying that he trusts in God. Yet, immediately after that he asks God to not let him be put to shame. Then as if encouraging himself, he says those who put their trust in God will never be put to shame. Is this true? Yes - Do Christians never experience shame? No - It is true that those who trust in God are never put to shame, and it is true that Christians experience shame. This is because we are not always putting our trust in God. David is not talking about a simple confidence or faith. He is referring to faithful walk with God.

He makes his point clear in the rest of the Psalm. Shame comes to those who are treacherous. As always David uses the extreme example. Yet, ultimately David says, those who don't live for God will be put to shame. This does not only apply to the sinner, but to those in Christ who don't walk wholly in God's way. It is this topic that David addresses in the rest of the Psalm. He asks God to to teach and guide him in God's way. Then recognizing his own sinfulness. He asks God to show his love, mercy and forgiveness in fear that his past sins would come back and haunt him. Do to his sins, he then expresses the affliction of his soul.

David then comes full circle and says that integrity and uprightness will protect him. It will keep him from being put to shame.

This is true for us. As we walk in integrity and uprightness as believers: we will not be put to shame, our souls will not be in torment, and we will not be afraid. There may be those who may try place shame on us, but we will not be ashamed because we know that we did what God required of us. Satan and others may try to put a guilt trip on us, but we can be confident as long as we know that we did what God asked. No shame can befall a man or woman who walks in integrity and does the Lord's will.