By Mike Elliot
Psalm 25:1-10
“In you, Lord my God, I put my trust. I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause.” Psalm 25:1-3
Being a college student, I am around people all day every day that are still figuring out who they are. They are often making mistakes, messing up, learning about themselves, and learning about how they want to function in the world. I like to include myself into this group. Often I find myself making mistakes, saying things I wish I could take back, and generally feeling like I have no idea what I’m doing.
I don’t know about all the other people my age, but whenever I encounter these situations I feel like I’ve let other people down, and it makes me feel embarrassed or ashamed. It’s hard to fight this natural feeling. I don’t need to feel this way. After all, the Bible tells us to not let our enemy triumph over us! Those feelings of shame do not come from God. They are coming from the enemy who is trying to beat us down, make us feel like we can’t do anything right. Make us feel like we aren’t really deserving of God’s love.
We are deserving of God’s love! He sent his own Son to die for us! To send his own son to die the most possible painful death. To bear the complete judgement for all of the sins of humanity, past, present, and future. That kind of unconditional love is impossible to comprehend.
Maybe it’s time for us to start putting all of that shame behind us, and accepting the love of God and casting off the burden that the devil is trying to put on us. By casting off that shame we will allow the light of Christ to shine through us to others, and in those situations where you may not think you can minister to anybody, your actions, attitude, and peace about you will show through and they will want that too!
This may seem like a daunting task, but verses 9-10 tell us that “He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.”
We don’t need to worry ourselves with all the big picture details. If we keep the attitude of a humble servant, he will take care of the rest.