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Lesson 18
It was Wednesday morning when Christian and Hopeful entered the dungeon and they did not see the giant again until Saturday night. During all that time they had nothing to eat or to drink. Snakes and bats and creeping things were their only companions. How miserable they were! When they heard the giant's footsteps approaching on Saturday night they were glad to see even him, for they thought that now they would at least have some bread and water. But they were sadly disappointed, for Despair, instead of bringing them food or water, brought only a big stick with which he gave them such an unmerciful beating that they could not even move. The next morning Giant Despair's wife, Diffidence, or Distrust, as she was sometimes called, advised her husband to persuade the two men in the dungeon to kill themselves. So the next time he went to the dungeon he took a rope, a knife and a bottle of poison with him. "See here," he said to the unhappy men, "you might as well do away with yourselves. You will never get out of here alive, anyway, and the longer you live the more you will suffer. It would be easy for you to hang yourselves or cut your throats or drink this poison and thereby put an end to your misery." But Christian and Hopeful refused to do this and the giant became so angry that he sprang upon them, ready to kill them with his bare hands. Just at that moment, however, he was seized with one of the fits which sometimes attacked him and the pilgrims escaped for the time being. When he was able to move again he went immediately to his own room but left behind him the weapons of self-destruction that he had brought. After he had gone Christian looked at the knife and the rope and the poison. He thought of the things that the giant had said. Perhaps it would be well to take his advice, he thought. Everything he said is true. We will never get out of here, and why should we stay and suffer more? But Hopeful protested the idea when Christian mentioned it to him. Their lives, he said, were still in God's hand. Perhaps He would miraculously deliver them, but if not, it were better to suffer than to dishonor His name by taking the lives He had given them. At this Christian took heart a little and knew that Hopeful was right; but when the giant visited them again and threatened them with more tortures, he fainted dead away for a little while and Hopeful was left to watch alone. When Christian revived he again mentioned the subject of the giant's advice. Perhaps it would be best to kill themselves and end their suffering. "Listen," said Hopeful, distressed that Christian would even consider such a thing, 'remember how Apollyon could not make you yield in the Valley of Humiliation. Remember how you came safely through the dark and dangerous Valley of the Shadow of Death. Remember how fearlessly you took your stand for Christ at Vanity Fair? That was what led me to believe in your Savior. Surely we can bear more than this." So Christian was strengthened again and ready to suffer even more if necessary. The next morning Despair visited them again and took them out of their miserable dungeon into the courtyard. Hope filled their hearts. Perhaps the time of their deliverance had come! But the cruel giant had no such intentions. He took them to a corner of the yard and showed them a great heap of men's bones. "Look there," taunted Despair, "Those are the bones of men who have resisted me. Just see the huge pile of them! The pile will soon be larger, too. Your bones, my friends, will make quite an addition to my collection." Then he beat them again. That night he and his wife, Distrust, were talking about their captives. "They must expect somehow to get out," said Distrust, "or they could never have stood it this long. Maybe they have something with them with which they can pick a lock." "You may be right," replied her husband. "I will search them in the morning to make sure." While Despair and Distrust were having this conversation in their comfortable room, Christian and Hopeful were having a conversation in their miserable dungeon. Christian said, "We have lain here and suffered and groaned all these days, but we have never prayed. Oh, Hopeful, why have we never asked God to deliver us?" "Why, indeed?" replied Hopeful, "Let us do so at once." About midnight they began to pray. First, they praised God for who He is; then, with tears of repentance they confessed their sins in leaving the path of His will and seeking their own way. Then they cried to Him for deliverance. At dawn, Christian cried in dismay, "Why have we lain all this time in this dirty, stinking dungeon when we might have walked at liberty? I have in my pocket a key which I am sure will unlock the door. Come on, brother, let us try it at once. It is called the Key of Promise."
"That is good news," said Hopeful. "Do try it. If only we can get out!" Christian found, with joy, that his key fit the lock on the heavy door. With some difficulty he turned it and the door opened. They were out of the dungeon, at least. If only the wonderful key would fit the other doors! They tried it on the outside door of the castle and it opened that as well. They were able to go into the courtyard. If they opened one more gate they would be free. The key readily unlocked the gate but when they swung it open it creaked on its hinges and made such a noise that it awakened Giant Despair, who jumped out of bed in a hurry to pursue his escaping captives. But the sudden exertion was too much for him and he was seized with a terrible fit and lay helpless on the floor while Christian and Hopeful fled as quickly as they could. In broad daylight it was not hard for them to find the stile over which they had come nearly two weeks before, and they were soon upon the King's Highway that led to the Celestial City. They could tell others how terrible it is to fall into the hands of Despair, how terrible it is to be so without hope that one feels beaten and broken. They knew from experience that the only thing that can release one from such a condition is reliance upon the promises of God. I think that perhaps Christian's promise was Psalm 50:15: "And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you will glorify me." Or perhaps it was Isaiah 41:13: "For I the Lord your God will hold your right hand, saying to you, Fear not: I will help you." To claim such promises one must know the Lord and believe in Him. When we have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and belong to Him, we can sing: "Every promise in
the Book is mine,
"Mine!--what rays
of glory bright
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