After listening to yet another thoroughly forgettable audio book, I decided to revisit the classics. Since I remembered being captivated by Robinson Crusoe as a boy, I decided to start my romp through great literature with that selection.
What surprised me this time through is how prominently the Bible is featured in Daniel Defoe’s fictionalized account of a castaway on a Caribbean island. Early on during his stay on “Despair Island,” Crusoe is a hardened cynic, angry with himself and the world. While resourceful and determined, Crusoe is isolated and alone in a far deeper sense than mere solitude can account for.
But then while rummaging through a chest, salvaged from the beached wreck of his ship, Crusoe comes upon a Bible. The very first words he stumbles upon are these: “Call on me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver, and thou shalt glorify me” (Psalm 50:15). Later, reflecting on the experience, Crusoe muses, “The words were very apt to my case, and made some impression upon my thoughts at the time . . . though not so much as they did afterwards.”
Now this is the sort of thing that every trained student of the Bible knows should not happen, or if it does happens, should not be taken seriously. After all, the Bible is not a collection of folk wisdom, to be plundered at will, like a desk calendar complete with a quote-for-the-day. The Bible is a library of sixty-six books written in widely diverse places and times. Only by placing a given text in its proper biblical and historical context, is there any hope of interpreting it aright.
But despite the degrees on my wall that mean I should know better, the fact of the matter is that ever so often, God gives you one on the house. Even when one does something as seemingly silly as letting the Bible flop open, where it will, one is sometimes confronted by a pointed, personal Word from God (Isaiah 55:11). At least that has been my experience and to hear Robinson Crusoe tell it, it was his experience too.
Prompted by this seemingly random word from God, Crusoe begins reading the Bible from cover-to-cover (an even better plan!). And while reading the Bible does not magically deliver him (Crusoe has another 28 years to go on the island!), his reading does gradually transform him. No longer is he so hopeless and alone. Now he has an unseen companion, whispering to him through the pages of Holy Writ, giving Crusoe a new measure of contentment, resilience, and courage.
Having just finished listening to the New Testament as part of our church’s “Faith Comes by Hearing” emphasis, I have been reminded anew: it’s a lot easier to live on whatever island you find yourself, if day-by-day, you give God a chance to whisper “sweet everythings” in your ear.
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