056 Error, Caution, Hell, Hope 3

How convicting it is to see someone else do something wrong that you yourself have done in the past, yet they go down as an example of failure, yet you remain undetected. This is how Christian and Hopeful felt as they stared at the blind people staggering among the tombs, aimlessly. They were the victims of Despair. They had been trapped by him because they had chosen to take the more comfortable, convenient route rather than living by principle. That is exactly what Christian and Hopeful had done, yet now, they stood on top of Mt. Caution looking down to where they should have been. They are humbled because it was not by their own power that they escaped. They could thank God for rescuing them.

The same thing is true of their view through the door to hell in the side of the mountain. Many had reached this very point and were thrown into Hell through that door, yet here Christian and Hopeful stood, free.

It should be obvious in their case, and in your life, that if you have persevered in the faith, you can only attribute that to the gracious preservation of God, not to your own special ability to perform.