Dangerous Journey, Part 3

Chapter 3: The Hill of Difficulty

Today’s Theme: Lions on Chains

Salvation is the beginning of the battle.  In Chapter 3, Christian is now “free of his burden and light of foot,” yet suddenly two strangers appear to try him.   And that’s only right, for Bunyan understood what C. H. Spurgeon so eloquently said, “Mark then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that, and expect to suffer.”  And so we follow Christian up the Hill of Difficulty, where he meets with new dangers.  But in this chapter’s high point of danger–when Christian is faced with the lions ahead of the Palace Beautiful–he learns from the porter, “Fear not the lions.  They are on long chains.  If you keep strictly to the beam of light, in the center of the path, they cannot reach you.”

Devotional Application

Just as Christian quickly learned that his journey was fraught with new dangers, so we and our children ought to think of the Christian life as a Dangerous Journey.  For Christ himself warns us, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  However, just as Christian found the lions who threatened to devour him were held on chains, so we can rest in His providence for our lives.  We will never suffer more than we can bear, and we will never suffer purposelessly.  “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)

Questions:

1.  Have you ever felt like Christian?  Have you ever felt like following God or doing something His way was just too hard?
2. What does God tell us about our difficulties?

Bible Verses

•  Luke 9:23-24—“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

• Matthew 10:29-31–“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

• SECOND MEMORY VERSE, Psalm 27:1—“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
  

Activities

• Object Lesson: The Lord is My Light–One of the most enjoyable morning devotionals we had when my kids were very young was when I took them into our closet, turned out the light, and shut the door.  It was totally pitch black for the first time in their little lives.  We were suffering through lots of anxiety at night about the dark, so this was pretty edgy stuff.  Kinda like asking Christian to face down those lions.  As we sat in the dark, my kids started to wiggle and laugh nervously and ask for the light.  Then I told them that God had made light to show us something about himself.  Light wasn’t just something God saw and said, I’m a little like that.  No, God created light to express something about him.  I told them that Jesus had said, “I am the light of the world,” and that He is our light.  Then I turned on the bright lamp I had brought in with us and suddenly the closet filled not only with light, but with the sight of mommy and sister and beautiful colors.  They gasped and whooped and clapped!  Light!!  I asked them questions about how they felt in the darkness, not being able to see anyone or anything.  I think they felt very alone and uneasy about what might be around them.  But they felt instinctively the relief and joy of light as they never had before when I turned on the lamp.  For today’s object lesson, find the darkest room in your house and give this one a try.  For folks with older kids, you might ratchet up the fun by pretending to be a bear or shark or something and “get” them in the darkness.  But my guess is they’ll appreciate the light turning on just as much as my kids and I did.

• Drawing Activity–Ask your child to think of a situation where he has felt afraid.  Where he has felt something was too difficult and that God might not take care of him.  Then help him cut strips of paper, staple them in connecting loops to make a chain.  (You can get instructions here.)  Tell him to remember that just like God had put Christian’s lions on a chain, so all our difficulties and sorrows will never be more than we can bear with His help.  God has them “on a chain” too.  (If you’d like to do a coloring page in addition to or in lieu of this activity, you can print out the picture in the next bullet.)

• Make-a-Book–If you’ve been printing out the other pages for our picture book project, here is page 3.  Don’t forget to add a summary sentence and/or a Scripture verse, which you can bind together with all your pictures at the end.

Reading Notes

Formalist–Q. Have you ever prayed or gone to church just because it felt nice?  Or maybe because you wanted other people to think you were good?  A.  A formalist is someone who does outward religious things for some other reason than love or obedience to God.  And that isn’t pleasing to God at all.  Bible Reference: Matthew 6:5.

Hypocrisy–Q.  Have you ever told on your brother for snatching a toy, and then snatched from him later on?  A. When you say the right thing and do another, that’s hypocrisy.  (Parents, this is a pretty easy one to share your own struggles with your kids.  How often do we as parents not practice what we teach, whether in terms of patience or always being kind or never grumbling and complaining in our hearts?)

Slumber in the Pleasant Arbor–Q. How often do we choose the easy, restful thing when we could do some work for God?  Video games instead of writing a letter to Grandmother?  Reading a book when we could rake our home-bound neighbor’s leaves?  Bible Reference:  “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a thief, and scarcity like an armed man.” Proverbs 24:33.

Timorous–Definition: “full of apprehension; timid” or afraid of everything.

Mistrust–Q. Have you ever felt the Lord couldn’t be trusted in something?  These fellows make a great pair, since what makes us afraid to the point of disobedience is simply a lack of trust in the Lord.

Palace Beautiful–Q. What is the most beautiful place you’ve ever been to?  A. The fellowship, kindness, and help Christian receives here is a wonderful teasing out of the idea of beauty.  While the characters here are mostly women and portrayed as physically beautiful, their beauty is also in their actions toward Christian and their saltiness or savoriness in terms of reflecting God’s own heart.  I can’t help but think of our role as parents–especially moms–in creating a beautiful place for our families.  How I pray that Christian mothers would be given grace to provide such beauty for their families, loving them and equipping them through Christ for the battles of the spirit to come.

Watchful–He is able to help because he keeps his attention focused on the road taken by weary travelers.  Are your eyes on the road?  Do you see the struggles of people around you?  Do you pray for wisdom in order to be able to help in time of need?

 SUMMARY

That’s it for Chapter 3.  Watch for chapter 4 on Thursday or so.  I’m including a bit more of my reading with the girls today, in case anybody needs it….

If you feel like sharing, how do you or your kids need to hear that God has our lions on chains?  I have a sick family member whom I love dearly, and I definitely find it hard to trust God with that.  But believe it or not, just meditating on these truths tonight as I’ve been writing has been such a wonderful blessing!

To see the previous posts in this series, see Part 1 and Part 2.  Also see Pilgrim’s Progress: Mission Adventure to get a copy of the book or sign up for an eguide via email.  For a discussion of Pilgrim’s Progress for older children or just for parents who want to go deeper into the content, please see Janie’s Pilgrim’s Progress: Introduction.