Obedience and Submission to God's Will
What This Theme Explores
Obedience and submission to God's will in Hinds’ Feet on High Places isn’t mere rule-keeping—it’s the soul’s slow, loving consent to be led in ways that contradict self-protection, logic, and timing. The book asks whether true freedom can exist apart from surrender, and whether intimacy with God grows only when our preferences give way to trust. It explores how costly obedience reshapes identity, turning fear into courage and weakness into strength, not by removing hardship but by reinterpreting it as the very means of transformation. Crucially, obedience becomes relational rather than transactional: the path is chosen not for promised rewards, but for the One who leads.
How It Develops
Obedience begins as survival for Much-Afraid. In Chapter 1-5 Summary, desperate to escape her Fearing relatives, she accepts the invitation of the Shepherd to the High Places, receives the thorn of Love, and—against her instincts—consents to walk with Sorrow and Suffering. What begins as a fearful yes becomes the seed of a love-shaped will: she chooses his path, his companions, and his pace, even while shivering.
Then the way bends against common sense. In Chapter 6-10 Summary, the Shepherd leads her down into the desert, apparently away from the mountains. Here obedience shifts from action to interpretation: she learns to distrust her own measurements of progress and to treat postponement as purposeful. Building her first altar, she starts to translate pain into worship.
The lesson deepens in Chapter 11-15 Summary with the Valley of Loss, where she surrenders all visible gains. Obedience now requires letting go of pride in spiritual advancement and consenting to be emptied. Forgiveness and relinquishment widen her capacity to receive, teaching her that subtraction can be sacred.
In Chapter 16-20 Summary, obedience becomes fearless fidelity. The Precipice of Injury and Forests of Danger and Tribulation force her to obey while frightened, anchoring trust in the Shepherd’s character rather than in circumstances. The climax arrives when she offers the very promise that drew her onward as a burnt offering—a decisive act proving that she loves the Giver above his gifts. Finally, she chooses to return to the Valley of Humiliation, not to escape suffering but to serve: obedience has ripened into joy and self-giving.
Key Examples
Obedience repeatedly asks Much-Afraid to reinterpret what “forward” means, pressing her beyond compliance into wholehearted consent.
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Accepting the Guides: When Sorrow and Suffering arrive, her initial recoil gives way to a deliberate yes, signaling the shift from crisis-driven obedience to love-motivated trust. By taking their hands, she accepts that God’s chosen means of growth will be painful yet purposeful.
"Will you still trust me, Much-Afraid? Will you go with them, or do you wish to turn back to the Valley...?" Then she looked at the Shepherd and suddenly knew she could not doubt him... Even if he asked the impossible, she could not refuse.
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The Detour to the Desert: The downward path contradicts her goal, testing whether she trusts the Shepherd’s promise or her own timelines. Her consent to delay becomes formative: she learns that faithfulness, not visible ascent, defines real progress.
"Much-Afraid, do you love me enough to accept the postponement and the apparent contradiction of the promise, and to go down there with me into the desert?" She was still crouching at his feet... "I do love you... I will go down with you into the wilderness, right away from the promise, if you really wish it."
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The Valley of Loss: Surrendering all she has gained reframes loss as obedience’s tutor. By choosing the path of forgiveness, she identifies God’s will not with achievement, but with humility and relinquishment.
"Will you suffer yourself to lose... all that you have gained...?" She... repeated with all her heart... "Entreat me not to leave thee... for whither thou goest I will go..."
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The Final Sacrifice: Offering the promise itself severs any residual bargaining with God. In yielding what is dearest, her obedience becomes pure worship—desire concentrated on the Shepherd’s will rather than on outcomes.
"Take now the promise... Offer them there as a Burnt Offering unto me." ...one flame burned there steadily, the flame of concentrated desire to do his will.
Character Connections
Much-Afraid (later Grace and Glory) embodies obedience’s slow sanctification. Each yes chisels away fear’s reflexes and the self-protective logic of the Valley, teaching her to interpret pain through trust. Her transformation proves that obedience is not personality change but allegiance change—her will is reoriented from self-preservation to love.
The Shepherd models command without coercion. He never forces submission; he invites it, linking every hard directive to deeper intimacy. His authority is pastoral rather than punitive, revealing that God’s will is not arbitrary power but purposeful love shaping a soul for the High Places.
The Fearing relatives personify disobedience’s alternatives. Craven Fear urges retreat to safety; Pride demands autonomy and visible success. Together they voice the world’s logic—comfort over calling, control over trust—so that Much-Afraid’s obedience stands out as a chosen counter-narrative rather than a naïve impulse.
Symbolic Elements
The Path: Twists, steep climbs, and sudden descents map the mystery of God’s will. Staying on the path signifies continued consent to be led, even when direction defies explanation.
Altars: Each altar marks an inward surrender given external form. By laying down will, understanding, and eventually the promise itself, Much-Afraid turns loss into liturgy—sacrifice becomes the architecture of transformation.
The Water Song: “It is happy to go low” teaches creation’s paradox: descent precedes delight. The song reframes submission not as grim duty but as the joyful current that carries the soul toward the High Places.
Contemporary Relevance
In a culture that equates freedom with self-sovereignty, this story contends that freedom often comes from consenting to be led. Its portrait of obedience offers an alternative to control: when sickness, disappointment, or delay thwart personal plans, surrender can become a way to find meaning without denying pain. Hurnard challenges readers to love the Giver more than his gifts, suggesting that maturity is measured less by outcomes achieved than by the willingness to say yes when the path goes down before it rises.
Essential Quote
As the Preface puts it:
“Every acceptance of his will becomes an altar of sacrifice, and every such surrender and abandonment of ourselves to his will is a means of furthering us on the way to the High Places.”
This line crystallizes the book’s thesis: obedience is both the offering and the engine of transformation. Each surrender does not merely prove devotion; it propels the journey itself, turning the soul’s yes into hinds’ feet for the heights.