Shame is the curse 

 

Psalm 69

1 Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.

2 I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me.

3 I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.

4 Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal.

5 You know my folly, O God; my guilt is not hidden from you.

6 May those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me, O Lord, the LORD Almighty; may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me, O God of Israel.

7 For I endure scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face.

8 I am a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother's sons;

9 for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.

10 When I weep and fast, I must endure scorn;

11 when I put on sackcloth, people make sport of me.

12 Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of the drunkards.

13 But I pray to you, O LORD, in the time of your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation.

14 Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink; deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep waters.

15 Do not let the floodwaters engulf me or the depths swallow me up or the pit close its mouth over me.

16 Answer me, O LORD, out of the goodness of your love; in your great mercy turn to me.

17 Do not hide your face from your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.

18 Come near and rescue me; redeem me because of my foes.

19 You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed; all my enemies are before you.

20 Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none.

21 They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.

22 May the table set before them become a snare; may it become retribution and a trap.

23 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.

24 Pour out your wrath on them; let your fierce anger overtake them.

25 May their place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in their tents.

26 For they persecute those you wound and talk about the pain of those you hurt.

27 Charge them with crime upon crime; do not let them share in your salvation.

28 May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous.

29 I am in pain and distress; may your salvation, O God, protect me.

30 I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.

31 This will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hoofs.

32 The poor will see and be glad-- you who seek God, may your hearts live!

33 The LORD hears the needy and does not despise his captive people.

34 Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and all that move in them,

35 for God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah. Then people will settle there and possess it;

36 the children of his servants will inherit it, and those who love his name will dwell there.

Shame is the tool that men use to climb the ladder of success. And yet shame is what motivates those same men to exercise their authority. Anyone who uses shame is in bed with shame. We must understand that shame is present in the world because of corruption. Shame is actually a companion of guilt. Anytime we fail to meet Gods standard of law keeping we experience guilt. The guilt is like a sword that is driven deep in our souls. When we do not recognize the intrusion of guilt ,  the guilt becomes self hatred. When we hold onto self hatred we are locked up in shame. As you can see shame is the personal enemy of freedom. Some people have lived so long with feeling shameful that they cant logically point to the people or situations in which they were talked down into shame and connect it to their depression. 

In this Psalm David is dealing with his self hatred because of being shamed by his accusers. In the Psalms God loves us because He created us and He sees us beyond our experience in his world .A world in which all men are motivated by shame. Gods love carries the weight of opposing shame because He is able to value us as He created us outside of our experience in this shame filled world. Gods view of the world has no shame because He orders and reorders every thing to work in perfect unity. This perfect unity is Gods perfect view of the value of everything and everyone that He has created. Shame is actually devaluing the things and the people that God orders to bring perfect unity to His kingdom. He pronounces Gods view of the world as if he as won over shame vs 34,35 36

But God cannot allow us to go through shame with the promise in the future that He will judge righteously. God is not like men who fall into a trap in which they experience shame. If shame surprised God then He would not be able to exercise His will over all other wills. God must act outside of time prior to the event that we face that shames us. If God claims that He loves us then He must act towards us without any opposition. Or Gods love would be untrustworthy. We do not need a defense after we have been shamed. We need a defense before we are shamed and as a result of being shamed other wise God would be very lax in communicating love to us. 

God has provided us with the remedy. Now listen the only remedy for shame is the pronouncement of death. This Psalm is kind of divided into two parts. The first part is the Psalmist description and complaint of pain as a result of people shaming him. The Psalmist makes a bold statement that he has not purposely shamed anyone. In fact he says that even when people were shamed because of his sin ,he prays that God will not bring them shame. But if you look at the second part of the Psalm you will see why the psalmist distances himself from being a person who shames. Because shame is cursing someone. It is actually pronouncing death to that person. So in the second part of the Psalm he is treating shame as a fatal attack upon not only his life but his posterity. The second part he is using the laws curses on those who shamed him as if he was in hand to hand combat for his life. He is addressing his anger and expressing it in a legitimate way. He is not satisfied until the law has worked to eliminate shame from the city.then the country. etc   There is so much in this Psalm to talk about and i havent even scratch the surface.