Numerous references to the concept of "being ashamed" may be found in Scriptures. "Shame" or "being ashamed" is a painful sensation that is often combined with feelings of guilt and confusion. Most of the times it is the result of sinful, immoral conduct or improper actions, causing feelings of failure, inferiority and disappointment. In the Pre-Messianic Scriptures the Hebrew word "bosh", which means "to be pale" or "to feel shame", is often used in this regard. This Hebrew word is the origin of the English word "abash", which dictionaries define as follows: "To make the spirits fall, to cast down the countenance, to confuse or confound, to make ashamed."

According to Scriptures, those who put their trust in Yahweh should not despair, even when they have experienced the shame that follows actions of disobedience and immorality. The favour and the goodness of our Father, Yahweh, is such that He is always ready to grant forgiveness to those who feel ashamed of the wrong they have done – those who desire to be truly reconciled with their Creator and Saviour. Yahweh’s favour and Yahweh’s esteem is always exceeding man’s shame – no matter how deeply and how severely man has fallen. This may be seen in verses like YeshaYahu 54:4 "Do not fear, for you shall not be put to shame, nor hurt, you shall not be humiliated. For the shame of your youth you shall forget, and not remember the reproach of your widowhood any more" and YermeYahu 3:25 – 4:2 "We shall lie down in our shame, while our reproach covers us. For we have sinned against Yahweh  our Elohim, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh  our Elohim. If you do return, O Yisra’ĕl, declares Yahweh,  return to Me. And if you remove your abominations from my presence, and cease straying, and shall swear, ‘As Yahweh  lives,’ in truth, in right-ruling, and in righteousness – then nations shall bless themselves in Him, and they shall boast in Him!"

There is, however, a time when it will be too late for man to try to deal with the shame caused by disobedience and rebellion towards the Almighty. This is the time of the coming of the Son of Adam (the Second Coming of the Messiah) when those who would not listen and would not repent, will realize that the words of YermeYahu 8:12 were true: "Were they ashamed when they had done abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush. So they shall fall among those who fall. They shall stumble in the time of their visitation, said Yahweh ." We need to ensure that our meeting with the Messiah will be without shame – neither shame on our part because we did not take seriously the words of Yahweh or the testimony of Y'shua, nor the shame spoken of in Mark 8:38 "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinning generation, of him the Son of Adam also shall be ashamed when He comes in the esteem of His Father with the set-apart messengers." Let us, therefore, study Scriptures to find out in what circumstances believers could honestly proclaim: "I shall not be ashamed!"

What a privilege to know that, once we have turned our backs on that which may have caused shame and reproach, the Messiah is not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters (Ivrim 2:11), and the Almighty is not ashamed to be called our Elohim and to remind us time and again that He had prepared a city for us (Ivrim 11:16).