Characters from Pilgrim's Progress -- Mr. Fearing
To revisit Pilgrim’sProgress over the last couple of weeks has been a wonderful
experience. In one of the previous
posts, I mentioned that I had originally been introduced to this fine book by
Pastor John Harrell in Bridge City, Texas.
For years in Bridge City, the church has been shepherded by Brother
Harrell’s preaching and praying and woven all through those years were numerous
illustrations that he would pull from this book and masterfully use them in his
sermons. If you have never read Pilgrim’s Progress, my question is
this: What doth hinder thee? Perhaps that is a humorous way to express it
but in all seriousness, the book opens up the mind an awareness that human
behavior is no different in the 1600’s than it is in 2017.
Our next character is another man that appears in second
half of the book as Christiana and her children make the pilgrimage with Great
Heart, their pastor. His name is Mr.
Fearing and his companions along the way are Honest and Self-will. Mr. Fearing is a man from the Town of
Stupidity which Bunyan describes as being about four degrees north of the City
of Destruction. It is a very cold place
where the hearts of men are cold as ice and the only thing that can melt them
is the Sun of Righteousness (Mal. 4:2).
Great Heart was the pastor of Mr. Fearing and he was the one who
shepherded him along the way to the river of death that led to the gates of the
Celestial City. Even though there was a
constant need of encouragement from Great Heart in the pastoral sense, he spoke
very highly of Mr. Fearing. His spiritual
investment in Mr. Fearing paid off in the long run even though he may have
wearied at times being a Barnabas to him.
Mr. Fearing was never one to give Great Heart any troubles except for
his mental waffling and his battle with fear that he wasn’t living up to a life
that was pleasing to the Lord.
Mr. Fearing has some of the greatest qualities in the world. His conscience was very sharp because of the
Word had been invested in his heart. Because
of that there was a sharpness of his conscience and accordingly he was very
tender toward sin. This meant that he
was incredibly careful about every step he took in the direction toward the
Celestial City. He was a man who went
overboard to make sure that he did not offend anyone. He would never have wanted to have been one
to cast doubts in the minds of those he traveled with. It would have horrified him if any of his
actions would have caused others to stray.
He was a man that the Apostle Peter would have greatly approved of. For it is in Peter’s 1st epistle
that there is a command that we are to be holy (1:16) and that command is
followed by another which entails we are to travel in fear of the Lord
(1:17). The connection that can be made
is this: If one is to live a life of
holiness, one of the motivators of that will be the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is a thread that runs
all through Scripture and we should take heed to it. In fact, there are between 150-175 references
to the fear of the Lord in both Testaments and while some would like to put off
the fear of the Lord as an Old Testament principle, New Testament believers
benefit greatly in devotion and godliness when they choose to implement this in
their walk with the Lord. Mr. Fearing is
a man who epitomizes a saint with whom the fear of the Lord is paramount but it
almost gets the better of him.
When he encounters the Slough of Despond, it takes him a
month before he is released from its clutches but when he finally does come
through it and washes all the mud off, the Slough of Despond has gotten into
his mind. Throughout the rest of his
journey, Mr. Fearing will clash with dark thoughts and deep depressions because
his mind has become a swamp of despair. He
never really overcomes it but there are some very positive things that takes
place in this man and the other pilgrims along the way can see that this man is
a fine example of a saint. Because the
swamp of despair got into his soul, it was difficult for him to imagine that
the love and grace of God would be sufficient to help him through. There are very easy obstacles that he
hesitates and we almost think they will get the better of him. But there are other giant victories that he
literally blows by to the surprise of all observers. His conscience was very sharp but there was
no reverse in this man’s mind, he only could move forward toward the Celestial
City. Never was there a concern by Great
Heart about him backsliding or falling into apostasy but because Mr. Fearing
had a deep fear of the Lord, it very much like a huge weight that added drag to
his progress.
One of the very positive traits that Mr. Fearing possessed
was his love to hear of the Celestial City and the King who lived within. The most joyful times that other travelers
would see in Mr. Fearing was when he was in the presence of a minister who was
speaking of it or when travelers would express their devotion to the King. He also experienced great joy when he would go
into the rooms that displayed the trophies of past battles being won or the
great weapons of the Christian battle that were exhibited on the walls. Mr. Fearing was so caught up with these that
would stay up all night keeping candles burning in the rooms so he could
see. He was a blazing soldier, prominent
hero in the night visions but as the sun rose, he became a weak vessel of clay
again. But prevailing through all his
fear was the unrelenting desire and noble goal of his entrance into the
Celestial City.
One scene that is described by some of the observers of Mr.
Fearing is outstanding when they tell of Mr. Fearing and his entire family who
sit back and do not partake in communion.
This kind of devotion is to be admired because the gospel is not a light
matter for them. It has great seriousness
that required their deep self-examination and spiritual scrutiny that Paul
encouraged of the Corinthian believers (1 Cor. 11). You travel those zones of introspection when
your relationship with God has the greatest priority of your life. For too many in our day, it has become God and, the Kingdom of God and, the work of God and, because following that and is a fill in the blank which makes
for double-mindedness and idolatry. It
is the and that pulls us away from
that one thing that we should give ourselves to. The devil, the world, and the flesh is thrilled
with the choices of God and whatever
else can be pushed in.
Mr. Fearing and
his family did what was right with their self-examination. But we live in generation that has almost removed
this from their mind and it is a rarity to find souls who do such deep
spiritual work. The importance and thoughtful
work of self-examination is at an all-time low.
This gives carnality a great foot-hold in our lives and the spiritual
opponents take advantage of it. Very few
of the Lord’s saints and soldiers are that deeply introspective with the necessary
self-examination that Mr. Fearing and his family were dedicated to. We are fraught with peril when we do fail to take
seriously the matter of walking with God and the accompanying fear of the
Lord. To forget the awful price the
Savior paid for our redemption places us in a situation of great compromise and
we do not value our salvation with the necessary significance that it deserves.
But one might argue that this is not a good place to live
and that would be a correct assumption but only if you did not know the rest of
Mr. Fearing’s story. He has great fear
of the Lord but there is a deep powerful anointing that exists in him that is
often missed because he focuses in on his fears so much. You can see his power when he comes to the
Hill of Difficulty and it is of such magnitude that it catches us off guard. He strides up that hill without even as much
as a walking staff, he doesn’t even break a sweat, and his focus is unwavering
to the summit. All the travelers that
are with him are left in the dust of his passage, they cannot keep up with him. They are in awe of his progress. How could such a man who appears so weak
demonstrate so much strength? When he
came to the place in the way where the roaring lions were on each side of the trail,
Mr. Fearing walks tall through their roaring, their pawing, and their gnashing
of teeth and reaches over and snatches the whiskers out of the dumbfounded
beasts. So many others were wilted over
by fear of the lions that much hesitation was in their mind as they passed them
by. Again, his strength is also evident
in the Valley of Humiliation, he is not climbing but instead descending and yet
same power that helped him ascend the Hill of Difficulty is present in his
descent. He was not even fazed by it because
he has already discovered what it is like to live in the throes of depressive
darkness so when Apollyon and his imps would attempt to take him down in a
fight, he can deal with them. Some might
consider how he made it through Vanity Fair a great surprise as well. When he came to this wicked town that all
travelers must pass through because the devil has built this city on both sides
of the road to the Celestial City as a hindrance but Mr. Fearing’s passage is
astounding. One would think that he
would be cowered down by the activities there but it was not to be. When he starts going through the bevy of
jugglers, company of cheats, conniving knaves, hideous apes, and the faltering
fools, a righteous disdain overtakes him.
He is empowered by an authority that rises in him to oppose evil. Even his pastor, Great Heart, is taken aback
by his response and it greatly encourages him.
The man who was so tender of sin and sharp of conscience wanted to destroy
the whole of Vanity Fair and those who were hounding him with their wares. That is the power that is hidden from many because
all they can see at times is Mr. Fearing in the clutches of despair.
Mr. Fearing has learned the secret to forward progress in
the Christian life. Study to be quiet
and live a peaceful life. He is a man
who can live in obscurity and be clothed in sackcloth. He is a man who does not live trying to get
back at every offender, everyone who has done him wrong, or those who have been
less than courteous to him. He has
watched others spend their energy trying to repay, to get revenge, and to get
their pound of flesh but he moves into private places of prayer and venues of
secret devotion because he knows that the Lord is the avenger. Those who are willing to be buried in
obscurity have incredible spiritual power.
It has always been that way and it will remain until the end of the
journey for us and for the whole of mankind.
Was all the reverence, the awe, the fear really traits worth
Mr. Fearing having in his soul? We only
can answer that by saying that he made it to the Celestial City! That is the ultimate goal for all who start
out on this journey. At the end, Mr. Fearing
grapples with his fear as he crosses over the river of death but the Lord
ushers him to a safe passage. Frankly, I
need to cultivate some of this godly, reverent fear in my life. . . may you do
so as well.
My apologies for being so lengthy. . .
Thanks for reading. .
.
To be continued. . .
Comments