Currently we're doing a Beth Moore study called, Believing God. It's REALLY good and has on more than one occasion been right on for more than one person.
Today Beth talked about "REPROACH". The Greek word for it is "Herpah" which also means: disgrace, shame, guilt, scorn, stigma and finger-pointing. Just to name a few. The basis behind the lesson today was how we walk around thinking that we are being judged for whatever our "sin" was; how we can view ourselves as the victim, by using the guilt we feel for whatever we have done.
Her lesson today took us to Joshua 4:19-5:12. The basis of it was the newer generation, the generation who weren't born in Egypt but in the desert, to bring circumcision back to these "newer generations" Circumcision, to the Israelites, was the sign of their covenant with God. God had told Joshua to do the circumcisions and he did.
In Joshua 5:9, God says to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." He had taken away the guilt, the shame the Israelites were carrying due to their time in Egypt and all that they had done from that time to the present.
With that, they called the town/village that the circumcision took place, Gilgal, which means "circle". It represents that God brought the Israel nation full circle and broke the old cycle...of shame, of stigma, etc.
Beth touched on some of our today's culture's "reproach". In her demonstration, she had 11 women come up to the stage, had each one put the jacket on that was laying in front of them and one by one, she had them turn around to show the letter that was on the back of their particular jacket (similar to the "scarlet letter").
Here were the ones that she touched on:
D - Divorced (finger-pointing, judgement)
S - Shame (molestation, rape, any type of abuse)
C - Crazy (people thinking your crazy)
B - Bankruptcy (guilt in having to file for it
F - Fired (shame of getting fired)
TP - Terrible Parent (kids are different than others so it's felt that they were a terrible parent)
POM - Pregnant Outside Marriage
H - Harlot
DWI - Driving While Intoxicated
U - Unmarried/Unwanted
R - Reproach
We wear these letters, whether its one of the above, another one that's not listed above, a few of the above, or all of the above, on our backs, guilt ridden for whatever we did or think we did.
As Beth said, sure we can pretend that the above thing never happened but what we do is we wear the "scarlet letter" inside out, so no one can see it but it's still there; it's just on the inside of us now. And how do we know it's still there? When someone brings something familiar to our situation up and it hits us, like a ton of bricks and breaks us.
For example, as most of you know, I was sexually assaulted when I was younger. I can hear the story of a woman being raped, being sexually abused, and I can ache for her. I can remember what it was like going through the pain, the emotions but it doesn't break me. I don't crush as if it just happened to me all over again. I don't let the shame of what happened have control over me; I am not a victim of it anymore. I allowed God to heal that in me. I can share what happened to me in a positive way; I can be there for young ladies who have had it happened; I can pray for them when they don't know what to pray; I can love on them when they feel they aren't worthy of love. I can be what I needed someone to be for me when I was going through it.
However, there is one thing in my life that I have held on to; that I unfortunately have played the victim with. I know it's been there; I hate it being there and I want it gone. I can't change the past; I can't change them. But I can chose to say, "Lord, I forgive them. I forgive the past and the pain that was caused." I can make it right through God; that's it.
Why do we hold on to things? Why do we weigh ourselves down with unnecessary things? Why do we continual say to Jesus, "Yeah I know you died on the cross for all of this stuff, this sin, this shame. But you know what, I think I'm going to hold on to it, just a little bit longer. Thanks!" Why do we think that what Jesus did on the cross for us was not enough?
In Ephesians 4: 22-23 it says, "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."
We need to change our way of thinking, bring a new attitude to our minds. Rather than leaving the "scarlet letter" on our backs or turning them inside out so that we hide from the world but suffocate from the inside out, let us cut them completely away from us. Let us take the scissors and cut the letter right off of our bodies; let us cry out to Jesus for healing, for our new self to be revealed and be who we were created to be, free from shame and guilt and live in righteousness and holiness.
Sometimes to get to the place of righteousness and holiness, our "sin" needs to be dealt with, the layers peeled away and we are wounded by what we see and the depth of our hurts and pains. But Beth gave a wonderful quote in the lesson: "Often a wounding precedes our full reception of God's promise, but healing always follows."
I want the healing; I want to see and be a part of and receive God's promises. I want to give the reproach back to where it belongs - on the cross. Let's do it together.
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