Outside Reading: Lewis

I also picked up a book by C. S. Lewis titled A Grief Observed. This book struck me as fundamentally less in general than The Problem of Pain and far more in depth. “God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn't. In this trial He makes us occupy the dock, the witness box, and the bench all at once. He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down.” Instead of suffering being a litmus test for the spirituality of a person, Lewis believes that it is a tool that God uses to help mankind gain perspective on life, especially in regards to how weak man is and how strong God is. As the weakness and suffering is a downfall, such grief must be humbling to people who so often put themselves on a pedestal, attempting to compete with the glory and perfection of God. I am completely guilty of this, myself. I can't think of anyone who has not done just that. Our sin nature definitely twists the reality that we were made in the image of God to make us think that we were made to be something of a god ourselves.