"Misguided By Shame"

"O my God, I trust in Thee: let me not be ashamed, let not my enemies triumph over me." (Psalms 25:2)  I know that you are familiar with how we sometimes can't stand to ask for directions, it is like a curse that we men were born with, that somehow we are not really a man if we can't find our own way around. Not to long ago, I tried to maneuver out of a very stuff situation; let's just say that I owed a lot more than I could possibly pay, so I tried on my own to free myself of that debt. Talk about misguided; that was about the dumbest move of my life! If I trust God in my earnings, why can't I trust Him with my debts? If you can see no way whatsoever to get yourself out of a bad situation, then why on earth would you try and fix it on your own? Could it be because of shame? Do you know what shame is, and how it corrupts our way of thinking? It causes us to focus on our situation and not look upon the One who can make that problem go away. If you don't think I know what I am talking about, then look at Adam and Eve in the garden. After they eat of the fruit that they were not to have eaten, they were ashamed and they hid from God; even after covering themselves with fig leaves, they were still feeling naked and hid themselves from God. There was nothing that they could do that would cover their nakedness, but only God could cover them, and He did so with the skins of animals that were slain. Yes, I know that we are to be ashamed when we sin, as were Adam and Eve; but they let that shame guide their actions, hoping to remove the shame before facing their Creator. That is not how it works! Do you know what word is closely associated with shame? It is blame! That is what happens when we try and get rid of our own shame, we start to look for someone else to blame our own mistakes on; as if, if we can blame it on someone or something else, then we can be relieved of the burden of taking the blame, thereby releasing us of the shame by reason of it not being our fault. Did not Adam and Eve blame their sin upon someone else? Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent; while neither one of them were willing to take the blame for themselves. Personally, I believe that Adam should have taken full responsibility for what happened; because he was the first created, and because Eve had come from him, he should have been the responsible one not to sin; but he gave into the women, and therefore was not leading, but was being led. David here is talking about "let not my enemies triumph over me", and he uses it as a response to being ashamed, by saying, "let me not be ashamed". The only sure way that our enemies can have any chance of getting the best of us, is if we try and take them on by ourselves, without giving the matter completely over to God. Now I know that some of you may not agree with what I trying to get at, but that's okay; but we must be removed of the shame in order to think clearly! Shame is a deterrent to rational thinking, and can make us do almost anything to cover up our shame. If you don't think that I am right about that, then look at what David did to try and cover his shame over his sin with Bathsheba; all rational thinking went right out the window, along with his character..."I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? My beloved put in his hand by the hole in the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave no answer. The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love." (Song of Solomon 5:2-8)