Robinson Crusoe by Daniel DeFoe

Robinson Crusoe

Daniel Defoe

Published 1719

English Novel

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Occasionally, the vision of me on a desolate tropical island, with a hammock and Kindle (I don't own a Kindle) that never needs recharging, that has access to all the books in the world, comes to mind.  Yeah, that's where I am.  Then reality reminds that I am not there; I am here, and there are four or five people talking at me at once. Those are my kids.  So when I chose to read Robinson Crusoe, it was personal.  But I did not realize how personal it would get.

In truth, I approached Robinson Crusoe as an outdated classic adventure about a guy who finds himself alone on an island for a few years and lives to tell about it.  I have seen "Cast Away": it was not that eventful.  How interesting can this story be?

The first third of the book was arduous: a "silent life," hunting seals, goats, and turtle eggs for food, making ink, clothing, and clay pots, and cutting down and constructing a small canoe - the latter event taking six pages to describe - to explore the beaches of the island. 

But let me get to the meat of this story because it is what influenced me entirely.  Two major themes of Robinson Crusoe are redemption and deliverance, given the strong emphasis on his spiritual journey.  Crusoe, the character, is the prodigal son who defied his father and went to sea.  He was prideful, rebellious, and disobedient, and for that, Providence set him apart from humanity, to live alone in silence for over twenty years.  

Early on, his sinful heart was convicted, and he repented.  With the help of a Bible that he had salvaged from the wreckage, he grew in spiritual knowledge of his Redeemer. During a time when he looked upon his situation as a prison, he began to read his Bible, and he came across these words,

'I will never, never leave thee, nor forsake thee.'

And he reasoned:

...if God does not forsake me, of what ill consequence can it be, or what matters it, though the world should all forsake me, seeing on the other hand if I had all the world, and should lose the favor and blessing of God, there would be no comparison in the loss?

He was thankful to God for bringing him to this place and "for opening his eyes...to see the former condition of [his] life, and to mourn for [his] wickedness, and repent."

Then later, he came to a severe understanding that if God wanted him to live the remainder of his life in solitude, it would be God's will because He is Supreme.  

His sovereignty, who, as I was His creature, had an undoubted right, by creation, to govern and dispose of me absolutely as He thought fit, and who, as I was a creature who had offended Him, had likewise a judicial right to condemn me to what punishment He thought fit; and that it was my part to submit to bear His indignation, because I had sinned against Him.

Yikes!  Dispose of me!  That is extremely difficult to admit: God can do whatever He wants with me because He is my Maker.   God had certainly humbled Crusoe.

In the immediate paragraph, Crusoe continued:

I then reflected that God, who was not only righteous, but omnipotent, as He had thought fit thus to punish and afflict me, so He was able to deliver me; that if He did not think fit to do it, 'twas my unquestioned duty to resign myself absolutely and entirely to His will; and, on the other hand, it was my duty also to hope in Him, pray to Him, and quietly to attend the dictates and directions of His daily providence.

To hope in Him.  What mercy!  A righteous, omnipotent Creator, who Crusoe knew could dispose of him as He like, expected him to also HOPE in Him.  

Crusoe pondered these thoughts because he had found a footprint in the sand; he was so paranoid about it (after years of no human contact) that he imagined it could be a flesh-eating "savage" from a nearby island, until he found Scripture that soothed his soul:

'Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver, and thou shalt glorify Me.

'Wait on the Lord, and be of good cheer, and He shall strengthen thy heart, wait, I say, on the Lord.

Crusoe was encouraged by these words that they relieved his heart instantly.  He realized that the footprint he saw in the sand, that burdened and worried him for so long, could have actually been his own.  

If an author can go on for six pages about the cutting down and building of a small canoe, I assure you, the bulk of the story is on Crusoe's spiritual redemption, repentance, and deliverance.  I have only provided two short excerpts.  

It was, I believe, biblically sound, and I soaked it up and studied the text as if it were an assignment.  If this picture is any indication of what the majority of my book looks like, then you know what I mean.  I seriously need to think about a new copy.