Biblically speaking, glory and shame are two things that couldn’t be more different. Shame is about defilement. We feel shame because of things we’ve done or had done to us that make us feel dirty, worthless, and afraid. Our instinct in shame is to cover up and hide. We beg not to be looked upon let alone touched. Glory, on the other hand, is about what is beautiful, good, and noble. Glorious things are proclaimed, shouted from rooftops, a cause for celebration. Glorious things are the things that beg to be spoken of and looked upon because they are so magnificent. But to the shamed, the glorious is off limits. The shamed don’t want to be seen by anyone, much less the glorious. Remember Isaiah’s experience of the Lord’s glory in the Temple? “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Is 6:5). For the shamed and defiled to come in contact with the glorious seems to promise certain death. So how does God’s glory offer hope for the shamed?
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