It all began when Guyon’s husband lost much of his
wealth, which helped turned Jeanne’s bitter mother-in-law into a bitter, avaricious mother-in-law. That followed
a bout of serious sickness on Jeanne’s part, followed by the death of a close,
much loved relative, which hurt Jeanne deeply.
Jeanne eventually received these calamities as God’s gift
to her soul: “Thou hast ordered these things, O my God, for my salvation! In
goodness Thou hast afflicted me. Enlightened by the result, I have since
clearly seen, that these dealings of Thy providence were necessary, in order to
make me die to my vain and haughty nature.”
In a hagiography (a typical “saint’s” biography), Jeanne
would have gone from “glory to glory.” Once she saw the error of her ways and
the shallowness of her life and faith, she’d never be the same—but the truth
was far more complicated. Her conversion was certainly genuine, making her initially lose her taste for the
frivolous entertainments of Louis XIV’s court; but after a couple more years,
Jeanne found herself gradually slipping back into her former ways and
appetites.
Haven’t we all been there? God convicts us and we
earnestly turn back to him, resolving to change our ways, reform our behavior,
and grow in grace. But then time passes, and our heart’s passion cools. God has
a way of using severe tests, coupled with good teaching, to bring us back into
focus.
In Jeanne’s case, God helped solidify her heart and win
back her allegiance with two major events: a conversation with a godly stranger
on a Paris
bridge; and then the onset of smallpox, which all but wiped out Jeanne’s famous
beauty. In King Louis’ court, appearance mattered far more than character, at
least as far as women were concerned. To be disfigured was the surest pathway
to being ostracized. Yet Jeanne received
her permanent facial scarring as another divine gift: “The devastation without
was counterbalanced by a peace within.”
In a move shocking to her intimates, after Jeanne recovered
from the sickness of smallpox and was well enough to speak, she ordered her
servant to bring a mirror. The servant’s hesitation told Jeanne all she needed
to know, but still, she persisted, and the mirror was brought.
After
studying her marked face, once considered her most valuable feature, Jeanne
confessed, “I was no longer what I was once. It was then I saw my heavenly
Father had not been unfaithful in His work, but had ordered the sacrifice in
all reality.”
Freed from lesser concerns—vanity and the royal court’s
acceptance—Jeanne’s sanctity reached inspiring, even heroic levels. There was
something about dying to the vanity of the “flesh” that lifted her to unusual
understanding of spiritual realities. Since that time, Jeanne could seem even
cold in the face of calamity, but that was only because she realized there is
sometimes no other way for us to be freed from the shackles of our
superficiality. Her own painful experience
kept her from bringing false comfort to those whom God was in the process of
breaking: “Oh, adorable conduct of my God!,” she wrote. “There must be no guide, no prop for the
person whom Thou art leading into the regions of darkness and death. There must
be no conductor, no support to the man whom Thou art determined to destroy to
the entire destruction of the natural life.”
By
“destruction of the natural life,” Jeanne was referring to our vanity,
selfishness, and carnal desires.
There
is something simply wrong with our culture valuing and rewarding women
primarily for what they look like—meaning they “peak” in their twenties—and devaluing
the depth of wisdom and character that takes a woman decades to develop and
nurture. Who deserves the most attention? Hollywood starlets and pop stars who
live lives of devastation, or wise women in their fifties, sixties and beyond
who can share a wealth of hard won wisdom and display the beauty of a godly
character?
Guyon left behind approximately sixty
volumes that have fed church leaders for centuries. Many of her writings are
still read today, the most popular of which is Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ, which was originally published as
A Short and Easy Method of Prayer. Experiencing the Depths explores a life of unceasing prayer, meditation, and
contemplation, emphasizing abandonment and union with God. At times, I believe
she veers too far into quietism, but her works are important feminine
contributions to the rich treasury of Christian spirituality. Women often
stress surrender in a way that ancient male writers neglected, who tended to prefer
“heroic” forms of active discipline (think William Law and John Climacus, for
example).
Some
choice quotes from Guyon are:
“As you come to Him, come as a weak
child, one who is all soiled and badly bruised—a child that has been hurt from
falling again and again. Come to the
Lord as one who has no strength of his own; come to Him as one who has no power
to cleanse himself. Humbly lay your
pitiful condition before your Father’s gaze.”
“You and I are very weak. At our best we are very weak.”
“If you set forth for the spiritual
lands…you must realize that times of dryness await you…. You will have
times of spiritual dryness. It is part
of the Lord’s way.”
I
write more about Jeanne Guyon in two of my books: Thirsting for God and Holy
Available.