Soul Depths

Soul Deep....While Wearing out Soles...

It is summer in Alaska and the birds were filling the air with their music well before 3 AM. I laced up my running shoes around 8 AM and headed to the Matanuska River, and my new "tradition" for the morning.  My new blue shoes have barely worn soles, making it a special pleasure to begin the habit of a daily run.

Today, however, I stopped near the shore of the raging river that is daily climbing the banks with the grey silt-laden waters. I paused in my run to visit with a youth pastor. As I chatted with him I met another member of the congregation. Soon we were engaged in conversation.

It began with the usual formalities, "Where do you live?" "Do you have a family?" "Do you walk or run every day?"  Quickly our conversation turned to things belonging to the spiritual Soul rather than the footwear I was sporting.

We talked of the deep soul pain of man. We talked about people in general, but thinking particularly of those without an intimacy and a relationship with the Creator God. She asked if I felt that one of the deep soul wounds came from hopelessness.  Immediately I was taken back to another Soul conversation with Mike Matthews, and I responded, "No, I do not think that hopelessness is the deepest soul wound. I think that the hopelessness comes from something deeper. I think that, for many people, it is SHAME that is the soul wound.  Then you become hopeless, but I think that shame may be the deeper wound."

As I've pondered this today, reading in the book of Job, I think that Shame is a profoundly powerful emotion that drives a sharp wound into the deepest part of our soul. And shame can result from so many circumstances- things we have done, guilt, things done to us, robbed innocence. And we cannot remove the shame alone. How good that we have a Creator God Who is relational, powerful, and so willing to remove that shame from our souls.

So, what do you think?  Is Shame the deepest soul wound, or do other things go deeper?