High Places

By Brooke Momblow

 

 

 

“He makes my feet like hinds’ feet [able to stand firmly or make progress on the dangerous heights of testing and trouble]; He sets me securely upon my high places.” Psalm 18:33 AMPC

 

If you’ve never read Hinds’ Feet on High Places, it is a beautiful allegory of walking in relationship with Jesus through life. Much Afraid, who has club feet, and her two companions Sorrow and Suffering set out on a path to follow the Shepherd and get new feet. The journey is riddled with obstacles and enemies. In the process, they all grow in ways they never could have imagined, realize the great love of the Shepherd for them, and at the end of their journey are given beautiful new names. I love this story.

 

Bill and I planned to hike a couple of 14ers with the dogs on our trip last month. After some injuries I haven’t been able to walk very far the last two years without great pain, so I was anxious about being able to hike a mountain. But I’ve been putting in the work to get well and wanted to at least try, even if it meant I hiked at a snail’s pace. I did it. It took me a long time and my husband was as patient as a saint.

 

After the first 14er my confidence grew. The last 14er we did was my favorite part of our trip. Everywhere we looked there was something stunning to see: waterfalls, wildflowers, animals, peak vistas. Well worth the effort. Our dogs were able to run off-leash for a good portion of our climb. I struggled to breathe, and I struggled to push myself without re-injuring anything, but I also made a point to look up and look around. Chena, our hunting dog, would speed up the side of the mountain to such heights she almost disappeared from view, then she would barrel back down to check in with us and speed by to run the entire length of the meadow, then back again for a quick passing check-in and right back up the side of the mountain to repeat all over again. Her energy and ability were mind boggling. She kept at this for hours without fading.

 

Chena’s antics reminded me of Much Afraid’s quest, and I could see the parallels in my own story, too. She said, “O Shepherd. You said you would make my feet like hinds’ feet and set me upon High Places.”

 

“Well,” he answered, “the only way to develop hinds’ feet is to go by the paths which the hinds use… The High Places are the starting places for the journey down to the lowest place in the world. When you have hinds’ feet and can go ‘leaping on the mountains and skipping on the hills,’ you will be able, as I am, to run down from the heights in the gladdest self-giving and then go up to the mountains again. You will be able to mount the High Places swifter than eagles, for it is only up on the High Places of Love that anyone can receive the power to pour themselves down in an utter abandonment of self-giving.” Hannah Hurnard, Hinds’ Feet on High Places

 

Peak experiences are magnificent, but we don’t stay there. We come back down the mountain into the valley, and we bring treasures with us to share.

 

“John of the Cross tells us that our journey will often include a time when what we know of God no longer seems to be valid, and God seems far away. His work offers an important corrective to our way of thinking about the spiritual journey, for the journey includes not only growing deeper and deeper in a joyful, affirmative way, but also time in the valley of the shadow of death. John of the Cross helps us be realistic about times when our understanding of God seems darkened as we are led into a deepening walk with God. It requires death to find new birth and life. We may have mountaintop experiences, but we will surely then have to come back down, go back to the living of our lives, and journey with others in the valley.” Heather Parkinson-Webb

 

“My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it Himself.” C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

 

My mountaintop experience was fulfilling not just because of the amazing sights, but also because it had become difficult for me to believe I could make the journey to the mountaintop (physically or spiritually). I’m healing. Someday I hope to bound across the heights like Chena. In the meantime, I’ll take the paths the hinds use in order to develop a heart that loves like my Shepherd loves.

 

Dear Father, help us to know you better and to quit trying to confine you to what we understand. Open our eyes to see beyond what we expect. Help our unbelief. Let us encounter you through your Holy Spirit. Be glorified in us. Amen.

 

Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago. Isaiah 25:1 NIV