les miserable - a person who had been brought down by grace will have this traumatic tranquility.

jean valjean was released from prison, and bishop myriel took care of him. but valjean one day, stole something from the bishop and ran away. he later caught by the police. but when he is caught, the bishop said, "oh i gave the gold to him, he was not stealing from me"

after hearing this, here is what happens to jean valjean. a strange emotion opposed to the hardness he acquired in prison. he preceived with dismay that the frightful calm which the injustice of his misfortune had conffered upon him was giving way. this celestial kindess was a formidable attack he had ever addressed.

we boast, self righteous. jean valjean feel his unjust suffering make a frightful calm, and the grace that he had experienced, he knew was formidable challenge. grace humbles him, but if he accept is, he knew he healed to the grace, he obliged to renouce hatred that the action of so many man had haunted him.

grace traumatizes you because grace said, no more boasting. grace ocme and said, you are like that.

By this method thousands of humans have been brought to think that humility means pretty women trying to believe they are ugly and clever men trying to believe they are fools.

To anticipate the enemy's strategy, we must consider His aims. The enemy wants to bring the man to a state of mind in which he could design the best cathedral in the world, and know it to be the best, and rejoice in the fact, without being any more (or less) or otherwise glad at having done it than he would be if it had been done by another. The enemy wants him, in the end, to be so free from any bias in his own favour that he can rejoice in his own talents as frankly and gratefully as in his neighbour's talents.

Screwtape Letters - Chapter 14

Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, "By jove! I'm being humble", and almost immediately pride - pride at its own humility - will appear. If he awakes to the danger and tries to smother this new form of pride, make him proud of his attempt.

CS Lewis - Screwtape Letters - Chapter 14

It is pride that made redemption needful; it is from our pride we need above everything to be redeemed. And our insight into the need of redemption will largely depend upon our knowledge of the terrible nature of the power that has entered our being. 


Andrew Murray, Humility