Screwtape Letters - Week #9

Well, you've hung in there, and with this writing, we are completing C.S. Lewis' classic, The Screwtape Letters. Thanks for staying with it; I know it proved a difficult read for some of you.

Before introducing the next book, I want to comment on the final letter that Screwtape writes to Wormwood and then make a concluding remark on the book as a whole.

In the final letter, Screwtape is obviously angry at Wormwood because he lost the "patient" to the Enemy, and the man went to heaven. He rants and raves about the patient's experience of heaven, and his ranting exposes some of the mystery of the Incarnation: God as Man, and God indwelling humans, and humans dwelling in God. Because of this wonder, we are the only created beings that have the privilege and honor of standing upright before the Creator God and knowing Him personally and intimately. Screwtape says, "The degradation of it! - that this thing of earth and slime could stand upright and converse with spirits before whom you, a spirit, could only cower..."

Speaking of the patient's entry into heaven, Screwtape says, "He saw not only Them; he saw Him. This animal, this thing begotten in a bed, could look on Him. What is blinding, suffocating fire to you, is now cool light to him, is clarity itself, and wears the form of a Man."

I cried as I read this chapter - what will it be like to stand before Him and look on His face?! A favorite verse of mine is Revelation 22:4 "...they shall see his face..." For the follower of the Lamb, the greatest motivation for persevering in God and seeking to live a life with a fascinated and expanded heart is to look on His face and see His joy and satisfaction over His Bride, gathered from every tribe and nation of the earth.

One reason I love The Screwtape Letters is that it exposes what it means to be human, loved by God and hated by the devil. The devil's hatred is primarily toward God, but because he can't touch God directly, he goes after humans, and we are the "apple of God's eye." Whenever we are hurt, God suffers. A strong message that comes forth through Screwtape in this book is the extravagant and incomprehensible love of God for weak humans!

So, Holy Spirit of God, continue Your work of revealing the heart of the Father for His children. Lord, I pray that You will leap over the barriers and obstacles that keep us from You and from knowing at the heart level what the length, width, breadth and height of Your love is in Christ Jesus. Thank You that You hear and answer our prayer, in the name of Your Son Jesus...


In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen
This is our next book, and I'm encouraging you to read the Prologue and Introduction to this little book just so you are acquainted with the author and what's behind his writing it. Nouwen was a Catholic priest, which will explain some of his vocabulary. I have read many, many of his books, as have countless Christian believers (both Catholic and evangelical); he was obviously a man who knew God intimately in the Lord Jesus.

This book is simple and short; it could be easily read in one sitting, but in order to get more out of it, I would encourage you to take it slowly and pray over it as you read. Please feel free to make any comments you may want to on these opening sections about what may have struck you about the man, Henri Nouwen.