Waiting

“In that day you will feel no shame because of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against Me;” Zephaniah 3:11

Shame – I’m waiting. Perhaps you are too. I’m waiting for that day, the day when I will no longer feel public disgrace about my past rebellion against Him. You might ask how this is possible. How can those memories of sin ever be removed? But that isn’t what this verse is about. Note the discussion of the meaning of bosh:

The word is often paralleled with kālam “to be humiliated,” and less frequently with ḥātat “to be shattered, dismayed.” As these parallels suggest, the force of bôš is somewhat in contrast to the primary meaning of the English “to be ashamed,” in that the English stresses the inner attitude, the state of mind, while the Hebrew means “to come to shame” and stresses the sense of public disgrace, a physical state.^[1]

The day we are waiting for is the day when we will no longer be held accountable for our crimes, the day we will be freed from public humiliation. That does not mean we will forget what we did. It means that what we did is finally completely forgiven. The order of the universe is restored and we are in the proper place. Baruch HaShem.

Perhaps we were taught that one day God would erase all our memories of disobedience. Perhaps we thought that “wiping away the tears” meant starting over with a blank slate. I no longer believe this. I ask myself, “Why would I rejoice forever in the salvation of the Lord if I didn’t remember what I was rescued from?” I’m not sure we will be returned to the Garden of Genesis 2. We might walk in the Garden again, but it seems to me that we will walk knowingly, not innocently. We will walk knowing what it took to bring us back, knowing how far we wandered, knowing that we are fully accepted now. I’m waiting for that day, not so I can forget what He did but so that I can rejoice in what He did and hold up my head.

Shame in the Western world is a powerful destroyer of human dignity. Oh, we earn it, no doubt. We didn’t start ashamed. But along the way we learned to feel that we were somehow deeply wrong. Perhaps we had theological mentors who considered all human beings the defective sons of Adam. Perhaps our parents told us that we were worthless. Perhaps we just assumed we were inadequate because no other explanation seemed to make sense of our lives. However it arrived, Western shame is internal. It is the utter denial of God’s deliberate choice to bring you into existence. It says that you are a mistake, not that you have made mistakes. Western shame attacks your identity, not your reputation. It is a lie! Hebrew shame, bosh, is about your outward stature, your public image. Of course, in Hebrew thought this is never far removed from what’s happening in your heart, but bosh is never about your essential unworthiness. It is about your destructive choices, and those can find atonement and forgiveness. The psychology of Western shame will keep you a prisoner forever. You cannot fix what can’t be fixed. But the Hebrew worldview doesn’t make this terrible mistake. It begins in the Garden. It knows you made terrible choices that damaged you and those around you. But a choice can be undone. Just wait.

Topical Index: shame, bosh, Zephaniah 3:11

^[1] Oswalt, J. N. (1999). 222 בּוֹשׁ. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (97). Chicago: Moody Press.

APOLOGY:  Last Friday, the Today’s Word entitled “Resentment” was supposed to be delivered to all on the email list.  It did not go out.  Instead, the system sent it on Saturday, which, of course, was Shabbat and was not supposed to have a TW.  Apparently even computer programs have to get used to this new arrangement.