Joel 2:25-26 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.
“You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
Zeph. 3:11 “On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me;
If you have truly repented and returned to Him with a whole hearted surrender in a matter, then it’s not just forgiveness you are promised, it’s redemption. Redemption includes forgiveness but oh so much more. It’s God’s promise to take over the situation and restore, and overrule for good, all the loss occasioned by the sin. Living in shame is to live constantly looking back at your past without redemptive lenses. To look at your past without seeing it through the redemptive blood of Jesus, is to look at a lie, and will open you up to all kinds of deception. You see, that past that feeds you with shame doesn’t exist anymore, and is therefore a lie. It doesn’t exist because Jesus bought it, and redeemed it, and the only past that exists for a surrendered heart is a redeemed past. You are either living in shame or praise. You can’t live in both. If you are believing the lie, and live in perpetual guilt and shame, then you will never advance in Presence and Favor, because you won’t believe it’s possible. Instead you can live in praise, knowing that the God of grace and redemption has dealt wondrously with you. When you live in grateful praise, instead of constant regret and shame, then you live expectant, as someone who is His Favorite, included as part of His story and His big picture.