Singing over Stains

11 “On that day you shall not be put to shame

    because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me;

for then I will remove from your midst

    your proudly exultant ones,

and you shall no longer be haughty

    in my holy mountain.

12 But I will leave in your midst

    a people humble and lowly.

They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord….

14 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;

    shout, O Israel!....

15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;

    he has cleared away your enemies….

16 “Fear not, O Zion;

    let not your hands grow weak.

17 The Lord your God is in your midst,

    a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness;

    he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing.

…. 19 and I will change their shame into praise

    and renown in all the earth.

Zeph. 3:11-19

​Sticker than peanut butter and honey in the hands of a two-year-old… shame. Like grape juice on the carpet, a stain that can never be erased.

And sometimes shame clings for things as simple as those childhood things like little spills, simple failures from being human—a childhood clumsiness, a D in a class at school, a lack of athletic skills, a miscalculation at work, a thought-out financial or business decision that just didn’t work out, something well intentioned in a relationship that just was perceived wrong. Innocent shame.

Or shame that steals our innocence—words we didn’t deserve thrown at us. Heinous crimes down against us of abuse or rape. Belittling. Violence. Subtle control and manipulation that the world outside the door doesn’t see or doesn’t see any harm in but still leaves us feeling less than. Or illness that robs our potential and leaves us feeling ashamed of our weakness in a world that touts strength. Depression that leaves us feeling pained and doubtful in a world that celebrates pleasure, self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-gumption.

Or real sin that does result in real guilt that we let fester into shame. Drug addiction in the past. Affair. A lie on the taxes that you thought you never would stoop to but that year was just so hard….

A marring superglue plastered against our soul, or the dirty duct tape residue that never comes off, a permanent sign of damaged, repaired, less than.

What is it about shame that continues to hold on to us? We Christians are confident that Christ bore our shame on the cross. Whatever happened to us, whatever we did, it is wiped away. We know that. Know, know, know. But sometimes heart doesn't know.

But take a minute. Review. Open up your heart again.

What is it that causes you shame? A simple mistake? Something done against you? Something you did?

A mistake—God is not asking you to be more than a finite being. “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Ps. 103:13-14). He knows we are dust, finite. In Zephaniah 3, he will leave the humble, those who know they can’t do it on their own. And if our parents didn’t forgive our clumsy two-year-old hands for dumping that grape juice, our Father does. It wasn’t a sin, it was from our finitude. But Christ took our finitude on, our human imperfection, and paid for that too. And we have the promise of immortal, eternal, glorious perfection as we enter heaven in the image of Christ.

Something done against you—God, the ultimate Judge, is looking down and saying, “I see you as pure and spotless, as my Bride, clothed in the white robes of righteousness that I myself have given her. There is no blemish, but she is pure and spotless" (Isa. 61:1-4; Eph. 1; Eph. 5:26-27). What they say against you or have done against you is washed away, it doesn’t mean anything. In the passage in Zephaniah, God himself deals with the enemies, removes them. Removes! Gone! Their words and actions, gone! If a tiny, mere speck of dust could impede the sun’s rays—if even it could!!!!—it is wiped away by the glorious burning words of our Lord proclaiming “It is finished. She is mine! He is mine! And she is like me, he is my image. They are declared just as perfect as me!” Hard to believe, but listen to his Word! Look to Christ’s sufficiency! Think about the sun, the Son, and how not a mere dust speck can impede it!

Something you did—that, too, is paid for. Covered. Erased. He declares to the Israelites, “All that you have done? The rebellion against me? No more shame because of them. Rather, instead of shame, your shame will be turned to praise—to your renown.” Why? “Because I the Lord am in your midst. Your shame will now show my mercy and forgiveness as a bright light to all the world. Nations will see. The ex-, the father who yells at you, the boss who you sinned against will see someone so incredibly different, so free, so loved, so filled with me that they will see me, my power. All shame is gone.”

We see our shame. The world heaps shame. But do you know what God sees? He rejoices over us with gladness, quiets us with his love. Gives reason to sing instead of mourn.

How did God see Moses? Moses had reason to be shameful. But do you know what God himself wrote about Moses? "And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel" (Deut. 34:10-12). This was God's own epitaph for him! Are you any exception to God’s power and grace and mercy?

Ruth had reason to be ashamed. But do you know what God had to say about her? “The great-grandmother of my Son. A woman whose story will be recorded in my words, the revelation of myself. She will be written down for all eternity as an example of my hesed, my steadfast love.”

Rahab had reason to be ashamed. But do you know what God had to say about Rahab? God wrote about her, too, in Hebrews and includes her in the hall of faith and James holds her up as a righteous woman.

David had reason to be ashamed. But do you know what God had to say about David? But God looked down and recorded him forever as a man after God's own heart.

So maybe I have a reason to be ashamed, maybe you do, but God looks down and says, "My child, covered in mercy, my faithful servant, one who looks just like my Son, and I delight in her" (Zeph. 3:17), and "I love her just like I love my Son, just like him!" (John 17:23​). Just like! Not a “sometimes I love her like my Son when she obeys me. Sometimes I love her when she doesn’t make a mistake.” Not a “I will love her when she has made up for that shame and cleaned herself off, when she has made herself worthy.” It is a “I love her now like I love my Son! I have loved her and will love her, no matter what she did and what she will do, my perfect love for a perfect Son crowns her.”

***Take a minute--how does God see you? Ask him. 

​I think it often comes down, for me--will I trust Christ's sufficiency, his perfection, to cover me? Will I accept that, trust that? Receive that? ​.... Too often I find myself fighting shame because I failed my own expectations, I should have been a better Christian, but that is relying on self instead of Christ.

May the Spirit open your eyes to Christ's complete sufficiency for you and the Father's delight in you! May his song of praise over you cover you, seep into your soul deeper than any stain, recreate the superglue marring, burn off in glory the duct tape residue, replace any of the words slung at you—and may this song so seep in you that it overflows through your tongue and eyes and heart into glorious praise so that all the world sees the greatness of our God!

“I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first. I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me. And this city shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. They shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it” (Jeremiah 33:7-9).

“Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion;

    instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;

therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;

    they shall have everlasting joy” (Isaiah 61:7).