Here we are close to his home now. Oh, see the garden! Just like the
Garden of the Lord.
See, it is just a little longer than it is wide, and is fenced with a row of protecting flowers called Grace. The central feature of the garden is that beautiful white lily called Love. It looks as though unusual care has been bestowed on this plant; see how it towers above the rest so grandly and yet is so majestically humble. Its fragrance spreads far and wide. Doesn't it make you want to sit down under its magnificent foliage and drink in of its glorious essence? Over there on the left of Love is a group of flowers of different species. That large cream-colored flower is called Patience. That crimson one is called Joy, and that with broad, drooping white petals is Humility. The sweet perfume you notice in any part of the garden is from Humility. That pink blossom on the right is Peace, and a very pleasant odor it has. Next to it is Faith. See it? It is a remarkably robust plant. Notice its blossom of pure gold color. It has no perceptible odor. This flower here, with all the colors mixed most intricately and beautifully together, is called Goodness. No wonder Faithful is so happy and cheerful, with such a garden! [Galatians 5:22, 23].
Oh, hush! There is Faithful on his knees now, at prayer to the Almighty!
How sublime he looks! Come; he rises.
"Good morning Faithful."
"Good morning to you, pilgrims. Blessings upon you in the name of Immanuel.
What may I do for you?"
"We are pilgrims in Canaan and have only lately crossed the Jordan. We seek a home. But we have heard of the giants and we saw one afar off, too. We are a little afraid. We thought probably you would tell us how to overcome these giants. Will you!"
"With the greatest of pleasure. One of my greatest joys is to teach pilgrims the strategy of spiritual warfare and tell them how to overcome the Anakims of Canaan [2 Corinthians 10:4].
"About the first giant I met in Canaan was one Mistake, a large, loose-jointed fellow, who, I found, made a tremendous bluster but was as weak as a pygmy. Really he is not a true Anakim, but a Gibeonite, who are foes until they are conquered, and then they become hewers of wood and drawers of water for us—they become our servants betimes [Joshua 9:21]. But at first Mistake assumes all the characteristics of a true giant.
"Not long after I crossed the Jordan, I met him. He came lumbering down upon me, and I thought my days in Canaan were numbered. It was only after I made some blunder or said some tactless thing that Mistake bothered me, but at such times he gave me untold trouble. One time a pilgrim named Slow was standing by the way. As I was passing him, I, not being as careful as I should be, bumped into him and nearly knocked him off the road. Poor fellow, he began to cry, and said he was ruined and believed that if such was the way pilgrims treated each other, he would go back into Egypt. This, of course, caused me to feel very sorry. I went back and apologized the best I could, but it hardly consoled him. I started on. And, do you know, up came Giant Mistake! He caught hold of me and gave me a sound thrashing for what I had done [1 Peter 2:20].
"But really, Mistake did not cause me so much trouble as did Giant Discourager. This Giant Discourager is a true giant, of pure Anakim blood, and he is in the habit of accompanying Mistake. And so it was that every time I met Mistake, old Giant Discourager was with him. Giant Discourager beat me unmercifully nearly every time I met Mistake. He would flog me within an inch of my life and throw me down so bruised and bleeding that I almost wished I was dead [1 Kings 19:9-18]. It was only when I made a blunder that Mistake and Discourager beat me; but as I made these nearly every day, my life grew very miserable. I was about to conclude that Canaan-land had lost all its milk and honey; for I had not found very much of either yet.