When we’ve messed up
by Richard Griffiths
‘Disgrace’ – the Hebrew word is often translated ‘shame’ or ‘reproach’. Whatever word you use, it’s a feeling that everybody hates. Sometimes we’ve really messed up and think that we deserve to feel thoroughly ashamed of ourselves. But it may be that we believe that the reproach that’s come to us is entirely undeserved. Either way, these are feelings we ‘dread’.
How do we deal with these feelings? Because we don’t like them, we’re often tempted to just squash them down, try to ignore them and hope they’ll go away (but they don’t). Or, maybe, we know that we’ve been wrong but try to justify what we’ve done or persuade ourselves that it wasn’t our fault. David does the right thing. He turns to God: “God, You take them away.”
But there’s more to it than that. He acknowledges that God’s judgments are good. God will judge. He knows what’s good and what’s bad; what’s right and what’s wrong; what’s deserved and what’s undeserved. And, what’s more, God’s verdict will be good.
And that means that there may be some things that we have to do before God can take away the shame. We may need to repent when God shows us that we’ve been to some degree at fault. We may need to forgive someone who has wrongly made us feel in the wrong (and that may include forgiving ourselves). We will certainly have to be honest with God: honest about what’s happened, honest about our reactions, honest about our feelings.
And then we bring the whole thing to the cross. That’s so important. It was at the cross that Jesus carried our disgrace, our shame, our reproach, our sin, our failure – everything! It is by His wounds that we are healed, restored, and forgiven. It’s as we bring everything to the cross that we hear His judgment: “Acquitted! Walk free!”
Why not take a few moments to see if you are carrying anything that would come under the heading of ‘shame’, or ‘disgrace’, or ‘guilt’, or ‘reproach’ – you could add other similar words. Tell your feelings and reactions to God. Tell Him the reasons for them, and then bring it all to the cross.
Richard Griffiths When Richard retired from full-time Anglican ministry in Chichester in 2009, he and his wife, Sue, moved to Northumberland. He joined the ministry team at Ellel Grange in 2011, where he and Sue regularly ministered at healing retreats. They are now helping on the "Explore" team. They greatly enjoy walking in the beautiful Northumberland countryside and along the coast. Richard loves seeing God bringing people into a strong personal relationship with Him as their Father and the healing that comes with it.
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