SHAME, SHAME, SHAME

SHAME, SHAME, SHAME

This is a study of the word "shame." Shame is something we all experience at sometime in our lives. Some experience shame more often than others. They may live in a household where they are shamed alot or kids may be shamed at school. This is what the Bible has to say about the subject.

1 Peter 3:16 - keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

1 Peter 4:16 - However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

1 Samuel 20:30 - Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you?"

1 Samuel 20:34 - Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David.

Psalm 4:2 - How long will you people turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?

Psalm 34:5 - Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.

Psalm 97:7 - All who worship images are put to shame, those who boast in idols— worship him, all you gods!

Proverbs 3:35 - The wise inherit honor, but fools get only shame.

Proverbs 13:18 - Whoever disregards discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored.

Proverbs 18:13 - To answer before listening— that is folly and shame.

Proverbs 19:26 - Whoever robs their father and drives out their mother is a child who brings shame and disgrace.

Proverbs 25:8 - do not bring hastily to court, for what will you do in the end if your neighbor puts you to shame?

Isaiah 42:17 - But those who trust in idols, who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned back in utter shame.

Isaiah 45:24 - They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone are deliverance and strength.’” All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame.

Isaiah 54:4 - “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

When and if you find you are ashamed of your own behavior, do what the Apostle Paul did and own your shame. 1 Corinthians 15:9: "For I am the least of the apostles and am unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." 

In another example of someone in the Bible being ashamed, King David was first unashamed for getting his neighbor's wife pregnant and then sending the neighbor to the front lines of the war to be killed. David's shame came when the prophet Nathan told him an analogy or parable that made David's blood boil with anger. David was unaware that the story wasn't true. Then the prophet told David the man in the story was him. David asked for forgiveness for his sins and showed remorse many times in the Psalms. He was forgiven but still had to suffer the consequences of his sins in that his son died at birth. The story told to David is found in II Samuel, Chapter 12. The story of David and Bathsheba's affair is in the chapter before. Note that David compounded his sin when he sent Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, out to die. And then he went about his business as if he'd done nothing wrong thinking people would think he had a right to marry Bathsheba because her husband had died in the war. His sin was in essence premeditated murder. He took a life and in the end, his son lost his life.

Compiled by Becky Wall

beckyowall.blogspot.com

3/27/25