Selah: Pause and Reflect

[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during January 2021]

It was on the 28th June, by his reckoning, that the castaway Robinson Crusoe discovered the Bible. He was suffering severe flu-like symptoms and experiencing horrific nightmares, and he was searching the boxes that he had recovered from his wrecked ship hoping to find some form of cure when he found that someone had slipped a Bible into his luggage. He was not a religious man – far from it – but by reading various verses he found that God had not abandoned him and he obtained peace of mind.

Of course, the story of Robinson Crusoe is fictional. His creator, Daniel Defoe, was of a Puritan persuasion and it is no surprise that his hero should show similar traits. Nevertheless, there is a passage from Crusoe’s diary that deserves our attention:

In the morning I took the Bible; and beginning at the New Testament, I began seriously to read it, and imposed upon myself to read a while every morning and every night; not tying myself to the number of chapters, but long as my thoughts should engage me.^[1]

Irrespective of any underlying motive on the part of the author, these words set us a challenge. Do we, in our own form of isolation, make time to read the Bible regularly? Are we diligent about it? Maybe we can apply some of the same principles to our own reading.

• He made a serious resolution. This was a commitment to something that he recognised would be of great value to him.
• He began at the New Testament. He had previously benefited from reading verses at random but now he wants to be more methodical.
• He reads in the morning, whilst his mind is fresh, and again in the evening as he prepares to sleep; part of his daily routine but not just a habit.
• He is flexible in the amount he reads. He continues to read whilst it retains his interest; he does not get bored and therefore he is able to focus his thoughts on what he has read.

 
It seems unlikely that the prophet Ezra was ever marooned on a tropical island but he made a similar resolution:

For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel. [Ezra 7:10 NIVUK]

Most New-Year resolutions will have been abandoned by now – Robinson Crusoe and Ezra have shown that one resolution is worth persevering with.

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^{[1]: Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe, 1719. accessed via thefreelibrary.com}
 

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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author