Escaping Despair

"PLIABLE: Well, my good companion, I am glad to hear of
these things; so come on, let us mend our pace [travel more
rapidly].
CHRISTIAN: But I cannot go as fast as I would like on
account of this burden that is on my back.
NOW I saw in my dream that just as they had ended this talk,
they drew near to a very miry slough that was in the middle of
the plain. And not watching where they were going, they both
suddenly fell into the bog. The name of the Slough was Despond.
Here therefore they wallowed for some time, being shamefully
covered with the grim; and Christian, because of the burden
that was on his back, began to sink into the mire."
John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress


Christian and Pliable had their minds on what they could get from God and this selfishness did its work. The outcome of self absorption is always despondency. We would never be disheartened if we were dead to our own ambitions and plans. It is only when things don't turn out the way we planned, we despair.


So Christian and Pliable flounder about in the mire. One thing that hinders them getting out is shame. Shame and guilt also causes us not to seek after God. Others may forgive us and we may forgive others, but I have found that the hardest person to forgive is ourselves. Christian, because of the burden of sin on his back, sank deeper. Confess your sins to God and allow Him to do the restoration to your soul.


Then I will return to my fortress until they have borne their guilt and seek my face— 
in their misery they will earnestly seek me.” Hosea 5:15


“He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, is as far as He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:10-12