An Encounter with Pride

In Hannah Hurnard's Hinds Feet on High Places, the story of the journey out of the Valley of Humiliation and onto the High Places of the Great Shepherd unfolds. It is an allegory which dramatizes the desire of God's children to move out of the valleys of life and on to intimate communion with God. The High Places promise higher degrees of love, joy, and victory to the believer on the journey, a journey which should begin the moment we ask Jesus Christ to save us from sin and death. Unfortunately, many of us are reluctant to begin. The journey to the high places is fraught with danger, discouragement, and pain. It is unknown and therefore unproven. Very often we allow our own pride to stop us from starting the journey or continuing on our way. We may ask ourselves, "What if nothing significant happens while I am up there? What happens if I can't make it to the top at all? What if I am humiliated and rejected? What if I fail?" What we often fail to realize is that the journey is as important if not more important than reaching the goal.

"Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord GOD is my strength,and He has made my feet like hinds' feet, and makes me walk on my high places." Habakkuk 3:18-19a (NASB) You see, the Lord must make our feet like hinds' feet. A hind is a deer and deer are very sure footed. We on the other hand are not, especially when it comes to spiritual journeys. He must make us sure footed on our spiritual journey. We cannot do it ourselves. And it is through the process of the journey that the transformation from gangly, awkward, spiritual klutz to wise grace-filled, light-footed spiritual traveler takes place.

The main character of this allegory is a small, disfigured, crippled girl called Much-Afraid. She, like her Fearing relatives, lived in the Valley of Humiliation in constant fear. One thing had changed for Much-Afraid; she was now in the service of the Great Shepherd and He had asked her to journey with Him up to the high places. For Much-Afraid, a greater thrill and honor could not exist. The Great Shepherd promised her two very important companions for the journey, Sorrow and Suffering.

"From the very beginning the way up the mountains proved to be steeper than anything Much-Afraid had supposed herself capable of tackling, and it was not very long before she was forced to seek the help of her companions. Each time she shrinkingly took hold of the hand of either Sorrow or Suffering a pang went through her, but once their hands were grasped she found they had amazing strength, and seemed able to pull and even lift her upwards and over places which she would have considered utterly impossible to reach. Indeed, without their aid they would have been impossible, even for a strong and sure-footed person." (Hinds Feet on High Places, Hannah Hurnard, 1975)

Down in the Valley of Humiliation, the Fearings were angry that such an honor was bestowed on poor little Much-Afraid. It was not that they themselves wanted to go for in fact, they did not. They hated the Shepherd but they were also jealous that crippled, miserable Much-Afraid was singled out for this journey. As long as she was poor and miserable, they didn't give her much thought. Now that she had left them to journey on to something better, they plotted and schemed on how they could stop her.

"A great consultation went on between all the more influential relatives, and ways and means discussed by which she could be captured most effectively and be brought back to the Valley as a permanent slave. Finally, it was agreed that someone must be sent after her as quickly as possible in order to force her to return. But they could not conceal from themselves that force might prove impossible, as apparently she had put herself under the protection of the Great Shepherd. Some means, then, would have to be found to beguile her into leaving him of her own free will. How could this be accomplished?" (Hinds' Feet on High Places, Hannah Hurnard, 1975)

Much-Afraid's relatives decided to send a distant cousin named Pride to bring her back. He pulled her hand away from her companions and held it tightly.

"Poor Much-Afraid tried to pull her hand away, for now she began to understand the meaning of his presence there and his bitter hatred of the Shepherd, but as she struggled to free her hand, he only grasped it tighter. She had to learn that once Pride is listened to, struggle as one may, it is the hardest thing in the world to throw him off. She hated the things that he said, but with her hand grasped in his they had the power to sound horribly plausible and true." (Hinds' Feet on High Places, Hannah Hurnard, 1975)

When we encounter pride, we find ourselves in the most challenging of struggles. Once we have grasped the hand of pride, it is extremely difficult to let go. John Piper puts it this way in his book Desiring God and throws in an unusual twist, "The nature and depth of human pride are illuminated by comparing boasting with self-pity. Both are manifestations of pride. Boasting is the response of pride to success. Self-pity is the response of pride to suffering. Boasting says, 'I deserve admiration because I have achieved so much.' Self-pity says, 'I deserve admiration because I have sacrificed so much.' Boasting is the voice of pride in the heart of the strong. Self-pity is the voice of pride in the heart of the weak. Boasting sounds self-sufficient. Self-pity sounds self-sacrificing." Both boasting and self-pity are about self.

"The reason self-pity does not look like pride is that it appears to be needy. But the need arises from a wounded ego, and the desire of the self-pitying is not really for others to see them as helpless, but as heroes. The need self-pity feels does not come from a sense of unworthiness, but from a sense of unrecognized worthiness. It is the response of unapplauded pride." (Desiring God, John Piper, 2003)

Much-Afraid only escapes the grasp of Pride when she calls out to the Great Shepherd.

"'Much-Afraid,' said the Shepherd, in a tone of gentle but firm rebuke, 'why did you let Pride come up to you and take your hand? If you had been holding the hands of your two helpers this could never have happened.'" (Hinds' Feet on High Places, Hannah Hurnard, 1975)

"She learned in this way the first important lesson on her journey upward, that if one stops to parley with Pride and listens to his poisonous suggestions and, above all, if he is allowed to lay his grasp upon any part of one, Sorrow becomes unspeakably more unbearable afterwards and anguish of heart has bitterness added to it." (Hinds' Feet on High Places, Hannah Hurnard, 1975)

"Going through the motions doesn't please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice." Psalm 51:16 (The Message)

"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world." 1 John 2:16 (NASB)

"For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning." Psalm 30:5 (ESV)

Dear Lord, Help me not to grasp the hand of pride. Help me only to hold the hands of the ones You give me even if they may be sorrow and suffering. Please let me not feel self-pity while enduring suffering, but instead let me accept it for the sake of joy.