Hinds Feet on Hight Places

Hinds Feet on Hight Places

This short allegory has become a modern Christian classic.  It reads much like Pilgrim’s Progress with villains like Craven Fear and heroes like Mrs. Valiant and places like the Precipice of Injury and the Valley of Loss.  Hinds Feet is the story of the little lamb named Much Afraid who leaves her comfortable home to follow the Shepherd to the High Places.   Many in the flock are content to remain by still waters in the comfortable fold with the Shepherd lovingly tending to them.  Many in the flock also seek to undermine the Shepherd’s call to Much Afraid.  And yet the Shepherd calls her to make a treacherous journey to the High Places, a place where Much Afraid gets a new name is healed from her crippled state and experiences new heights of love and joy and freedom.

Most folks that I know have read this story as I did, that of a Christian’s walk with the Lord culminating in either heaven or a more mature godliness.  However, it’s unclear to me what it actually pictures.  Perhaps it is some kind of perfection on earth similar to a holiness doctrine of sanctification.  Throughout the story excerpts of Song of Solomon bring the reader to understand that the relationship of Much Afraid to the Shepherd is the same as Solomon and his Beloved.  That would require a more spiritualized interpretation of Song of Songs rather than a literal interpretation.  On the other hand, God does love us and calls us to greater heights in our walk with Him.  So that concept I enjoyed, and especially the chapters about the struggles along the way.  An encouraging and challenging book overall.