C.S. Lewis on what makes the enemy so nervous...

My good friend and ally, John, and I were noticing that just about everyone we know -- especially people on the front lines of Jesus' mission to rescue hearts -- was in deep pain or entrenched suffering of some sort.  It's almost uncanny that so many of our allies are suffering;  and it can't be explained away by, "Well, everyone goes through something now and then:  that's just the way it is."  [That sounds a bit naive to me.]

John brought up the following reference from The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis.  Uncle Screwtape, the elder devil, is telling his nephew the very thing that makes evil itself nervous:

“Sooner or later he [God] withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all supports and incentives.  He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs—to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish…He cannot “tempt” to virtue as we do to vice.  He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away his hand…Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending,  to do our enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.” 

― Uncle Screwtape.  From C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

•  "..to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish." 



• "Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending,  to do our enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”

If you've ever read my blog or my book, you'll know that I've never been one to advocate robotic duty or heart-less obedience; and I'm not sure Lewis is either here.  At first blush, this may paint a rather unfavorable view of God, but note the following:

• Lewis does not say that God has left the creature – but that in our “conscious experience” it seems that way. 

• He also doesn’t say that he takes away his presence in these times, but only his hand – so that we can walk when we didn’t think we could; or at least in a strength and capacity we have not ‘till now walked. 

• It also doesn’t say that we have been forsaken, only that the creature "asks why he has been forsaken,”  given the agony of his experience.

What makes the foul ones nervous?  When an ally of Jesus keeps getting back up, refusing darkness the opportunity to gloat, and continues in desire-less plodding to carry hope into the Babylonian lions' den.  Or to reach Mordor where the one ring will be swallowed in fire forever.  Only then can Frodo go home.  And for such a time as this, to face-down the king who has enslaved her people, exposing the plot, setting off a redemptive sequence in history that far outstrips Esthers diminuitive status.

"Take heart...for I have overcome the world."  And because you are his ally, you are overcoming the world as well."

VideoBlog: "Developing a Steady Confidence" --Jim Robbins

Survival Tool - Building a memory library

Held hostage for 1,967 days in the Columbian jungle.

The plane that was carrying the three American contract workers crashed in the dense jungles of Columbia.   Surviving the crash was only the beginning of what was to come.  Tom, Marc and Keith (and their pilot and Columbian co-worker) immediately found themselves in a hot zone ruled by the FARC -- a notorious terrorist organization known for kidnappings, drug trafficking, hostage-taking, and murdering innocent civilians. 

The FARC quickly swarmed out of the jungle towards the crumpled aircraft -- beginning Day One of a five-year plus captivity for the three men in the jungles of Columbia.  (The pilot and the Columbian on board with the three were immediately separated from the group.  Later, news reached the three Americans that their friends had been executed by the FARC.)

In order to cope with the dehumanizing madness of captivity, one of the American contractor hostages created what he called a "library of memories," a virtual collection of moments and recollections of his family back home, childhood memories, and pre-captivity life.  The FARC guerrillas could take away his freedom of movement, institute 40-day forced marches, put him in chains, or refuse him the right to empty his bowels in private, but they could not take away what was inside his head.  That "library of memories" was a virtual room he could walk into at any moment and pull a memory off the shelf. 

As I read their account, I was struck by how helpful this could be during moments or chapters of spiritual disorientation:  those times where God seems cruel or absent, and appears to be markedly silent; when what I hope for feels like it will never come.  So I created my own library of memories.  The "spines" on some of my titles read: 

• Lynn -- Here She Is, Jim.
• Olivia & Nate:  Gifts
• Rafting Rescue
• Chosen -- Len Sweet
• Peterborough Confirmed
• Dwight's Endorsement

When I forget the history of God's compassionate intervention in my life, I go to my library and pull off a title from the shelf.

What book titles would be in your "library of memories?"