The Counsel of the Rock

I recently found myself thinking of the failures of the past and felt shame…are you living under shame? Shame is a covering of the enemy to protect his domain and he will use it to wrap you in his plans and identify your life with failure.  If you remain under its tutelage it will hinder or even destroy the plan of God for your life. Shame is a destroyer of confidence with God, unknowingly it seeks to wrap you in its garment to neutralize your purpose and steal away God’s plan for your life. I began seeing something about this shame and what I want to present this to you that shame is as counsel. Are you under its advisement? Are you hindered by doubts, fears, self-justification and feelings of inadequacy?  These thoughts are nothing more than idolatry, they are worried about preserving your life according to your own self centered view.  Think of it this way, these thoughts will lead you to fashion and shape life according to fears and not by faith.  I like the illustration I heard recently that man molds with butter, but God molds with clay.  They both are shaped to fit a useful ideal however, when the fires of opposition come, one melts, the other becomes hardened to a vessel fit for the Master’s use.  Isaiah 42:17 confirms that shame is rooted in idolatry by saying those who trust in idols will be put to shame.  Living under the counsel of shame upholds yesterday, it is old man thinking, self talk and self right living, but cannot provide the Grace necessary to walk uprightly, for it only skews my view of things.  Seeing my world view, real or imagined, only hindered me from moving in what I knew to be God’s will for those who find their identity in Him.   I began seeing my need for God’s presence because it magnifies my position in Christ, whose worth cannot be compared to my ideal which is idolatry and will counterfeit Christ but never produce His image.   I need the Counsel of the Rock!  Hebrews 12:1-2 says, ‘lay aside the sin that so easily entangles you’.  This sin has been the obsession of your whole life, it has colored and clouded your thoughts with shame and it keeps you from finding the steadfast counsel of the Rock.  Hebrews 12 continues by saying, ‘Fix your eyes on Jesus.’  He is the rock of your salvation, the perfecter of your faith. It is a faith cleft within the Rock to enable you to see yourself covered by the image of the son. There under His shadow will you find cleansing, covering and a counsel leading you to despise the covering of shame.  Hebrews 12:2 says in effect let your life be molded in the image of one who endured the cross, by despising the shame in order to obtain His place in the presence of God.