From Living a Life of Hope, Nathan Busenitz. He took the story from "The Pilgrim's Progress" a book by John Bunyan (1628-1688), a man who was incarcerated for his faith.
Written as an allegorical account of the life of a believer named "Christian," it uses simple narrative to convey deep spiritual truth. Christian, who is on his way to the Celestial City (or heaven), is traveling along the King's highway with his friend Hopeful. Together, they encounter many dangers and, by God's grace, they survive them all. One Such peril comes from Doubting Castle - a terrible fortress of fear owned by Giant Despair. Symbolizing the doubts and fear that many believers face, Doubting Castle is finally overcome when Christian and Hopeful rely on the promise of God. The masterful story goes like this:
After a hard night's journey, Christian and Hopeful finally fell asleep. But, little did they know, the place where they slept was only a short distance from Doubting Castle, the owner of which was Giant Despair. In fact, they were actually sleeping on his property.
Early the next morning, when Giant Despair awoke and took a walk through the fields, he caught Christian and Hopeful asleep on his grounds. So, with a grim and surly voice, he woke them up and demanded to know why they were there.
Startled by their abrupt arousal, they quickly explained to him that they were pilgrims, and that they had lost their way. In response, the giant bellowed, "Because you have trespassed onto my land and spent the night in my fields, you must come along with me."
Giant Despair, therefore, took them to his castle and put them into a very dark, very dank, and very despicable dungeon. Here, then, the two pilgrims lay from Wednesday morning until Saturday night, without one bite of bread, or one drop of drink, or one flash of light, or anyone to ask how they were doing.
Now Giant Despair had a wife, and her name was Diffidence, the meaning of which is timidity, or fear. After the giant had locked Christian and Hopeful in his dungeon, he told his wife what he had done and asked her what he should do with them in the future. When she found out who they were, she advised her husband to beat them without mercy in the morning.
And so he did, making a switch from the thorniest tree he could find. And the next morning he went down to the dungeon and, after verbally assaulting his two prisoners, he whipped them until they could hardly move. Then he left them for the day, leaving them to languish in their misery and pain.
That night he again asked his wife what to do. This time she suggested that he encourage the men to kill themselves. And so, the next morning, he went down to the dungeon and, seeing that they were still in pain from the day before, added insult to injury: "You men know you will never escape from this prison. So why don't you make things easy on yourselves and just end it all - I'll even supply you with the knife, the rope, or the poison. It's your choice."
The pilgrims, of course, pleaded for their release. This only made the giant more angry, and he refused to let them go. In the damp darkness the prospect of death suddenly didn't sound so bad. And so, presently, Christian said to Hopeful, "Brother, what are we going to do? The life that we now live is miserable. For what it's worth, I don't know whether it is better to live like this or just give up and die. I think I would prefer death to life. The grave certainly seems better than this dungeon."
But Hopeful was quick to respond, "Indeed our present condition is terrible, and death would be far more welcome to me than to live here forever, but let us remember the promises of our Lord. For God, the One who made the world, may cause Giant Despair to die, or cause him to leave the door unlocked, such that we may escape. Whatever the case, my brother, let us be patient and endure for a while, for I am confident that the time will come for our release."
This counsel from Hopeful eased Christian's mind for the moment, and so they sat quietly in their sorrowful prison. That evening, Giant Despair came to check on his prisoners, thinking that they had probably already killed themselves. But, when he entered the dungeon, he found that they were still alive - although barely. In fact, having been starved for several days and severely beaten, they could hardly even breathe. Nonetheless, they were alive.
This, of course, enraged the giant, who, before leaving with a huff, told them that because they had not taken his advice their treatment would grow even worse. Night again came upon Doubting Castle, and as Giant Despair and Diffidence were talking she asked him about the prisoners, curious as to whether they had killed themselves yet. "They are stubborn rogues," replied the giant. "They prefer to bear pain and hardship than to make an end of themselves." "I know what you should do," his wife replied. "Tomorrow morning, take them into the castle yard and show them the bones and skulls of the last set of prisoners we caught. Tell them that, at the end of the week, you will tear them into pieces as you did with the previous group."
So that next morning, Giant Despair took Christian and Hopeful out of their dungeon and into the castle yard. As their eyes adjusted to the brightness, they saw several shallow graves. "These are remains of other pilgrims," the giant bellowed. "Like you, they also trespassed onto my property. And, when I thought the time was right, I tore them into pieces. And soon, I will do the same to you. Now get back in your dungeon!" And he threw them back into their underground prison. Horrified by their field trip, Christian and Hopeful lay there all day in lamentable silence.
Later that evening, the pilgrims in desperation began to pray - and they prayed for nearly the entire night. And, it was as they were praying that Christian, amazed at his forgetfulness, suddenly blurted out, "What a fool I am! Here I am lying in this stinking dungeon when I could be walking around freely! I have a key in my coat called Promise that will, I believe, open any lock in Doubting Castle."
"Wonderful," said Hopeful. "This is good news, Brother. Hurry and try it."
Then Christian pulled the key out of his coat and inserted it into the lock on the door. Immediately the lock gave way, and the door opened with ease. The pilgrims quickly fled from the dungeon and made their way to the door leading into the castle yard. Again the key opened the door. Then came the iron gate, and although the lock did not turn easily, it did turn.
So Christian and Hopeful thrust open the gate and hastily made their escape. And coming back to the king's highway, they erected a pillar in order to warn other pilgrims from falling prey to Giant Despair. Many, therefore, who came after Christian and Hopeful read the inscription and escaped danger.
And, as the two men continued on their journey, they sang:
When we left the King's highway all that we found,
Was treacherous, murderous, forbidden ground.
So may those who follow in our steps take care
Lest they also find themselves caught in Despair
But even if trapped in the darkest of jails
Cling to His Promise, whose word never fails.