Chapter 6 Summary

In chapter six, Much-Afraid is shocked to find Sorrow and Suffering leading her down towards a vast desert. She starts refusing to go, claiming that the Good Shepherd would never want her to go down there because he is calling her to the high places. Much-Afraid calls for the Great Shepherd and he confirms to her that that is the way they must go. The Great Shepherd asks Much-Afraid if she loves him enough to go down into the desert with him, even though it seems to be the opposite of his promise. Much-Afraid agrees to go with him and builds an altar of rocks to lay down her rebellious will. Flame came up from the rocks to accept her offering and from among the ashes left over she found a dark pebble. The Great Shepherd told her to take it with her as a way to remember this altar and what it stands for.

Much-Afraid found that the journey down to the desert was easier and faster than she expected because she had the Great Shepherd to lean on. After they arrived in the Desert at the huts that they would stay at for the night, the Great Shepherd brought Much-Afraid to a pyramid nearby. The Great Shepherd explained that all of his servants have had to make this same detour through the desert on their way to the High Places, and explained that it is called “The furnace of Egypt, and a horror of great darkness”. He explained to Much-Afraid that there are many things his servants have learned here that they would have never learned otherwise. The Great Shepherd explained that his servants came here to learn the secret of royalty and after their time in the furnace and great darkness they left as royal men and women. Then Much-Afraid saw a great host of the servants of the Great Shepherd who had walked this path before her and it stretched in an endless line across the desert.

Then the next morning, the Great Shepherd brought Much-Afraid into the pyramid and showed her a large room where grains were being beaten and bruised and then ground into a fine powder to be used in baking bread. The Shepherd explained that he brings his people to Egypt so that they may go through a process like this and be threshed into the finest powder for the best use. Then the Great Shepherd brought Much-Afraid to another room where a potter sat at a table working with clay. He told her that in Egypt, he also forms his servants into his finest vessels to do his work. Then he brought her up to the highest floor in the pyramid and showed her a room with a large furnace in the middle. The furnace was refining gold and revealing beautiful jewels from rocks. The Shepherd told her that his finest gold and rarest jewels are the ones that have been refined in the furnace of Egypt.

After several days staying in the huts in the desert, Much-Afraid was taking a walk on the last morning and found a beautiful yellow flower. She asked the flower its name and it said its name was Acceptance-with-Joy. Much-Afraid decided that she would also like to accept with joy the trials the Great Shepherd allows in her life to refine her to His purpose. She picked up a stone that she found beside that flower to keep as a reminder and put it alongside her first altar stone.

Chapter 6 Thoughts:

The first thing that stood out to me in this chapter was the fact that Much-Afraid was able to walk down to the desert with the Great Shepherd so quickly and painlessly after she offered up her rebellious will on the altar. Much-Afraid had thrown a tantrum at the thought of walking down to the desert in the opposite direction of the High Places, but once the Great Shepherd was walking with her she “felt a surge of the sweetest joy and comfort surge through her” (p.35). This gives contrast to the struggle she had walking with sorrow and suffering in the last chapter after she allowed Pride to take hold of her hand. After being injured by Pride she had more pain than usual when she grasped onto Suffering and Sorrow’s hands, but after submitting her will to the Great Shepherd she clung to him and walked with no pain. The joy of the Great Shepherd being near seemed to drown out the pain of going somewhere she did not want to go. I think we often want to experience the joy and comfort of Christ while also experiencing the joy and comfort of this world, but it doesn’t work like that. The comfort and joy of this world draws us away from Christ, simply because it gives us less reasons to seek him. When we experience sorrow or suffering in the world it points out our need for Christ and draws us closer to him.

The second thing that stood out to me was the heavy metaphor of the furnace of Egypt. The metaphor of grain being bruised and beaten, of clay being formed by the potter, and of gold being refined, all point to the refining process that all followers of Christ must go through to follow him. We know this is scriptural, images taken straight from scripture, yet it is still hard for us to accept that this is what is required of us if we want to follow Christ, to be like Christ. We often cry out to God in disbelief that he would allow certain things in our lives, like Much-Afraid did when she was being led into the desert for an undetermined amount of time. It often can feel like what God allows in our lives contradicts the promises He has given us, but I believe if we asked him he would also respond as the Great Shepherd did to Much-Afraid, stating…

“It is not a contradiction, only postponement for the best to become possible.” p.34

It will always feel like pointless suffering if we do not depend on Christ and allow our suffering to lead us closer to him. The times in my life that I have felt the closest to Christ have always been the times of hardship, loss or grief. I believe the following question is for all of us to answer, in the variety of “deserts” that we experience…

“…do you love me enough to accept the postponement and the apparent contradiction of the promise, and to go down there with me into the desert?” p.34

I pray that God spiritually blesses your eyes and heart to know his truth and understand his love for you as you continue to read Hinds Feet on High Places. Come back next week for Ch. 7:)

-Nadine

Hinds Feet on High Places Summary and Thoughts - Chapter 6

Hinds Feet on High Places Summary and Thoughts - Chapter 5