Windows and Dealing With the Foxes of Shame and Confusion

UV 1532/10000 Windows and Dealing With the Foxes of Shame and Confusion
Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
Isaiah 54 v 4
Two great foxes of human nature are shame or guilt and the consequent confusion. Any such moral or spiritual phenomena are foxes as we do not know how to deal with it in the natural. Guilt or shame is the enemy’s way of blackmail. They grow subtly but powerfully and are so nimble and fast that it is almost impossible to catch or trap these foxes. God has the last word on dealing with the foxes of human nature. In a macabre case just being reported , a mining baron has taken several mentally retarded people to the mining field and sacrificed them to ensure his success in business. The foxes of guilt and confusion had led that businessman into the greatest shame of his life, from which he and his associates would never escape. God’s Word as both law and promise, as positive model to emulate and negative model to avoid gives us the supernatural Samson-like power to trap, catch and destroy these foxes by tying them tail to tail and setting them on fire, sending them howling into the fires of perdition, never to taunt or agonize us anymore.

His Word is meant for internal consumption such that it works like medicine from deep inside us and not to be applied superficially and externally. The foxes of human nature like shame or guilt and confusion are running around inside our minds, weakening us form inside, destroying our clarity of vision and robbing us of the joy of salvation and the power to be victorious. The enemy gets his power by accusing us, often rightly and thereby putting us to shame. Guilt is said to be the heaviest burden on our minds and hearts. But Jesus has washed us clean of all guilt, past, present and future. He has removed the cause of our shame by His act of propitiation that gives us the absolute right of absolution. We are far removed from the presence and penalty of sin though as long as we live on this earth, we are vulnerable to the power of sin. But the Word gives us the effective remedy, the torch of fire to set aflame the tails of the foxes of shame and guilt: we just need to repent, confess and seek the grace of God and deepen our resolve not to repeat the same acts that grieve God and bring shame to us. Though our sins be as scarlet, the Lord will turn it white as snow. Though they be as numerous as the hair on our head, He will cast it to the bottom of the sea. Though they be humungous and glaring, He will take it as far as the east is from the west.

Every day at the foot of the cross of Calvary is our Gilgal moment when our present reproach is tossed away along with our past guilt and shame. When God has declared us sinless and perfect in His Son Jesus, who is the enemy to try to shame and confound us? We are free to be fruitful and victorious in many fields. We are no longer sinners but winners in life. There is no one or nothing that can condemn us any longer. The fear of shame will no longer weaken us or confuse us. We are no longer haunted by the negative memories of our past. We are no longer weak, vulnerable or sorrowful like a widow for the windows to heaven and the windows of heaven are open to us all the time. The windows to heaven enable us to pray and confess and seek constant cleansing. The windows of heaven gives us access to the blessings of the Almighty.

Prateep V Philip