In John Bunyan’s, The Pilgrim’s Progress, the main character CHRISTIAN slips into a miry bog called The Slough of Despond.
“It is the low ground where the scum and filth of a guilty conscience, caused by conviction of sin, continually gather and for this reason it is called the Slough of Despond.”
CHRISTIAN struggles in the mire for a little while and then HELP comes.
“But why did you not look for the steps?” HELP asks.
CHRISTIAN answers, “FEAR followed me so hard, that I fled the next way and fell in.”
HELP extends his hand, draws him out, sets him on solid ground, and sends him on his way.
We’ve all passed through the Slough of Despond. Maybe you are passing through now. Poor CHRISTIAN. In his fear and anxiety he could not see right.
Isn’t there a propensity to grow so weary and faint under the weight of our own trials and afflictions that we lose sight of Jesus? Isn’t there a proneness in the best of us to lose the eyes of our faith?
That is the cry of the psalmist in Psalms 13:3 when he pleads with God, “Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death“
That is my prayer today — for all the saints. Let us lift up the trumpet of our prayers toward heaven and utter a cry of faith, “Lord, give light to our eyes.”