Hinds Feet on High Places Summary and Thoughts - Chapter 16

Chapter 16 Summary

We are in Chapter 16 this week in Hinds’ Feet on High Places and at the beginning of this chapter, Much-Afraid and her companions came to a gorge filled with mist. They couldn’t see what was below and they couldn’t see what was on the other side, but Much-Afraid knew they were at the spot she was told to go to because she could hear the mighty waterfall. Sorrow and Suffering told her they needed to jump into the canyon. So, with Sorrow and Suffering holding a hand under each of Much-Afraid’s arms, they jumped into the canyon and held her strong as they landed together. They moved slowly in the midst until they found a stone altar with a figure standing behind it. Much-Afraid instantly knew this was the place she was to make her offering.

She called out to the Good Shepherd and asked him to come help her make her offering, but she had no response. She remembered the words that Bitterness had said to her about how the Shepherd will put her on a cross and abandon her to it, but she realized that she didn’t care if that was true because she only cared about doing the will of the Shepherd no matter what it cost. She also realized that there was no sign of her enemies at this moment. The appointed place was at the very edge of the High Places and was beyond the reach of her enemies, because they would never be able to cast themselves into the mist filled canyon, to their own grave.

“She felt nothing but a great stillness in which only one desire remained, to do that which he had told her, simply because he had asked it of her. The cold dull desolation which had filled her heart in the cave was gone completely; one flame burned there steadily, the flame of concentrated desire to do his will. Everything else had died down and fallen to ashes.”

p. 102

Much-Afraid tried to pull out the natural human love and desire growing in her heart by herself, but she could not do it because it was wound into every part of her being. She worried that she would not be able to complete what he asked her to do. She asked Sorrow and Suffering for help but they told her they have done all they can do for her and that they could not do this. The figure by the altar stepped out and said that he was the priest of this altar and that he could take it out of her heart. She asked him to bind her to the altar so that she would not fight him. He bound her and then pulled it out with a hand of steel and looked at it before saying that it was ripe and that all the roots were pulled out with it. Then he threw it onto the altar and it burned to ashes under his hands. Much-Afraid felt overwhelming peace and rest come over her. Then priest unbound her and she thankfully said “It is finished” and then fell asleep.

Chapter 16 Thoughts

The first thing that stands out to me in Chapter 16 is how Much-Afraid tried to pull out the desire for human love from her heart on her own but she was not able to. She needed the priest to do it. Much-Afraid even went so far as to ask the priest to bind her to the altar so that she could not fight back while he pulled that desire for human love from her heart.

We cannot die to our old self in our own power, we need Christ to do his saving work in us. We also have the tendency to fight against God when he is trying to accomplish what we have asked him to accomplish, just as Much-Afraid was aware that she would likely try to fight back even though what she wanted most was for him to finish the task.

The other thing that stood out to me in this chapter was that Much-Afraid expected to die, and she was ok with it. She only wanted to follow his will, no matter the cost. This is a tremendous change from the Much-Afraid we met at the beginning of the story, the much-Afraid that would not have begun the journey if she thought the Good Shepherd would lead her to death. Through her journey, Much-Afraid learned how to focus on the spiritual realities of the world, what the Good Shepherd is most concerned with,  instead of the physical.

I also took notice of when the priest looked at what he had taken out of her heart and stated that it was ripe and that all the rootlets were attached. I think this is significant because it shows why Much-Afraid’s journey needed to be as long as it was. It took that long for her heart to be ready to give that up without holding on to any piece of it. It also shows how God respects our agency and wants us to make that choice of our own will. There is not one place in this story where the Good Shepherd forced Much-Afraid to do anything, he always waits for her to be ready and for her to decide.

We are nearing the end with only 4 chapters left in Much-Afraid’s story. I pray that you are enjoying it and learning just as much from it as I am and I look forward to continuing with you next week.   

-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