Hinds Feet on High Places Summary and Thoughts - Chapter 13

Chapter 12 Summary

In Chapter 13 of Hinds’ Feet on High Places, Much-Afraid and her companions followed the path alongside the mountain and then stopped when they saw it took a steep drop down into a low valley, the Valley of Loss. This valley was even lower than the Valley of Humiliation where she used to live. For the first time, Much-Afraid started to wonder if her relatives had been right to tell her not to attempt this journey, for to go down into that valley would mean to lose all the ground she had gained so far. Much-Afraid began to imagine what her life would be like if she turned back and just lived her life as she wanted to without the Great Shepherd, but an existence without him felt like the most terrible possibility and so she shrieked and called out for the Shepherd. The Great Shepherd came and she clung to him and begged him to not leave her or let her turn back, explaining to him that the path into the Valley of Loss seemed so wrong that it made her doubt. The Great Shepherd reminded Much-Afraid of one of her first lessons on the journey, that ‘This delay is not unto death but for the glory of God’. Then he continued by saying…

“It is no less true now that ‘what I do thou knowest not, but thou shall know hereafter.’ My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me. It is perfectly safe for you to go on in this way even though it looks so wrong, and now I give you another promise: This ears shall hear a word behind thee saying, ‘This is the way , walk ye in it,’ when ye turn to the right hand or to the left.” Pg. 82

Then the Great Shepherd asked Much-Afraid if she is willing to trust him and go down into the Valley of Loss simple because it is the way He has chosen for her. She quoted the book of Ruth in response:

“…Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go;…thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.” Ruth 1:16-17

And with that declaration Much-Afraid built an altar at the top of the descent into the Valley of Loss and added another stone to her bag. The descent down into the valley was surprisingly easy for Much-Afraid, but imagining her life without the great Shepherd had made her realize that what she wanted most of all was not what the Shepherd promised her, but the Shepherd himself and she desired to follow him all the days of her life, wherever that may lead.

Once they made it down into the Valley of Loss, Much-Afraid was surprised by how peaceful and content she felt. She sang with her companions as they walked and actually enjoyed the time in the valley. She still did not know how they would climb back up to where the High Places were but she was content to wait because the Shepherd walked with them. Much-Afraid also noticed that she was not stumbling and did not have pain as she walked. When Much-Afraid asked the Shepherd why she was able to walk without pain or stumbling in the Valley of Loss, he replied that it was the altar she built at the top that has made the walk so easy for her. This surprised Much-Afraid because she found that it was much more painful to walk after building other altars, but the Shepherd explained that the purpose of altars is to make “possibilities of apparent impossibilities” and sometimes it will bring a struggle after and sometimes it will bring peace.

Chapter 13 Thoughts

1)    The Valley of Loss

Much-Afraid had to decide if she was willing to lose all the ground she had gained by going into the Valley of Loss. The moment Much-Afraid started to think about what her life might be like if she left the Great Shepherd and lived her life however she chose really stood out to me. She quickly realized it would feel like living in Hell to not have the Great Shepherd in her life. This stands out to me because it’s not something I would think about, to imagine my life without Christ, even when following Christ calls me down a hard road. But what I would think about is how it would be easier if I didn’t have to do certain things. I think a lot of us are prone to the temptation to pick and choose what we want and don’t want when it comes to following Christ and we forget that is not how it works. In that moment Much-Afraid only had two choices; continue down the path the Great Shepherd was leading her down or to turn back and turn away from the Great Shepherd. When we only do the things we want to do while following Christ, we aren’t actually following him, we have created our own trail and convinced ourselves that we are still on our way to the High Places. That is a scary thought.

2)    Person vs. Promise

After Much-Afraid decided that she was willing to lose all she had gained so far in order to keep following the Great Shepherd, she was able to know for certain that just being with HIM was enough. Being with the Shepherd and following him was more important to her than anything He promised her. That was the choice she made when she created her altar at the top of the path before starting the journey down into the Valley of Loss.

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as a loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order than I may gain Christ.”  Philippians 3:7-8

3)    Altars of Surrender

Building altars has been an important part of Much-Afraid’s journey. Every lesson she learned required an altar to be built so that she could surrender whatever she needed to in order to follow the Great Shepherd and continue on the path. The altar this chapter brought up a very interesting conversation between Much-Afraid and the Shepherd because she noticed that after building the altar she was able to walk without pain and barley stumbled at all. Much-Afraid was more used to her journey being harder right after an altar, as it would often be more painful for her to walk, or painful to hold Sorrow and Sufferings hands. The Great Shepherd explained to Much-Afraid that the purpose of building an altar was not to make things harder or easier, as that would depend on the circumstance, but it’s purpose was to make possible what seems impossible. This is a good reminder that when God is asking us to do something that seems impossible, we need to ask ourselves if there is something we need to surrender.

Much-Afraid still has several lessons to learn on her journey to the High Places and I look forward to continuing this journey with you.

-Nadine

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18