An Application of Bunyan – The Giant Despair…I know him well.

February 19, 2020

Melancholy. That’s what they called it in the “olden times”. Today we call it “Depression” and think of it as some kind of unusual condition which necessitates a pharmaceutical cure. Certainly, there are those who find help in that way. There are those for whom this is a chronic condition which finds its root in some kind of organic origin. Praise God for the help that medication provides.

The melancholy experienced by Christian and Hopeful was not that kind, however. Neither is that the experience of most of us, though all of us, at one time or another, have, do, and will experience those dark times, no matter what it may be called in any particular age. It is a common human experience, and those who know the grace of God are not immune. It has been the experience of men and women of God in every age.

Having left the path looking for an easier way, and then finding they had fallen into great error in doing so, Christian and Hopeful, repenting of their foolishness, sought to return to the hard, but right, way. By then, however, it was getting dark, and so, finding a shelter, they laid themselves down to await the morning, unaware that by doing so they had placed themselves in danger once again. The place where they lay was close by a castle, called Doubting Castle, and the castle and all the property which surrounded it, including their resting place, belonged to the Giant Despair.

The giant, rising earlier than the pilgrims, came upon them while they slept, took them captive, and placed them together in the dungeon below his castle. There they remained, for days on end, without food, nor drink, nor light, lamenting the foolishness which had brought them to such a state, and falling deeper and deeper into despair, seeing no way of escaping their desperate situation.

Is this not one very common cause of our melancholy, our depression, our despair? We find ourselves facing some seemingly insurmountable obstacle, some seemingly inescapable situation, and like the pilgrims, all around is darkness. We can’t see a way out. We can’t even imagine a way out. Our vision becomes narrow, and all that can be seen is the circumstance. The situation. The problem.

Christian and Hopeful found their trouble increasing, for Giant Despair had a wife who convinced him that the best course of action was to go down to the dungeon and beat the pilgrims severely. Having beaten them, and speaking to them only of the promise of a future filled with nothing other than continued misery, the giant suggested to them that the best course of action would be for Christian and Hopeful to take their own lives. The two men found themselves in such a state that their self-destruction actually became the subject of their conversation.

This is the danger of the giant Despair. While we find ourselves in the midst of affliction, he whispers lies. Lies of hopelessness. Lies of suffering without end. Lies that seek to convince us that there is no possibility of escaping the darkness in which we are enveloped. And then, there is the suggestion of an easier way. The end of suffering. An end to the darkness. But they are lies. All lies.

Hopeful was not yet entirely lost in his despair. Hopeful had not accepted the lie which the giant had sought to plant within them. Hopeful remembered what was true and sought to encourage Christian with the truth.

“Yet let us consider, the Lord of the country to which we are going, hath said, ‘Thou shalt do no murder’. No, not to another man’s person, much more then are we forbidden to take his counsel, to kill ourselves….Let us consider again, that all the Law is not in the hand of Giant Despair. Others, so far as I can understand, have been taken by him, as well as we, and yet have escaped out of his hands. Who knows, but that God, who made the world, may cause that Giant Despair may die, or that, at some time or other, he may forget to lock us in…? Let’s be patient and endure a while. The time may come that may give us a happy release. But let us not be our own murderers.”

Despair does not have the final word! The despair we endure is not unique. Others have gone before us. Pick up and read. The Psalms are full of David’s experience of despair. Have you endured the afflictions of Job? He passed through, first. Elijah despaired of life even after great victory.

C.S. Lewis passed through the darkness, having lost his wife to cancer. Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon. John Newton, William Cowper, David Brainerd. The history of the church is replete with men and women who found themselves taken captive by the Giant Despair. Often, they would escape only to be flung back into the dungeon once again. And yet…

And yet, these same afflicted ones nonetheless accomplished great things for the kingdom, and they did so, not always in spite of their affliction, but as a result of their affliction. The words of Paul are true. “All things,” even despair, “work together for good, for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”

Do not listen to the voice of the giant. Compared to the Lord of the country to which we are going, he’s really not very large, at all.