A True Sense of Things

And I add this part here, to hint to whoever shall read it, that whenever they come to a true sense of things, they will find deliverance from sin a much greater blessing than deliverance from affliction. ~Daniel Defoe, The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

This was the last line we read for school today. Robinson Crusoe was delivered from a near death illness and cries out to God, again, as he had so often before in the pit of his despair.

But this time, it felt different. So I asked my daughter if she noticed any difference between this time and all the other times. And she said she thought he was really turning to God this time. When I asked her why, she couldn’t quite put it into words.

I bit my tongue.

A few minutes later, after she’d gone up to her room, she came back and said “Why, what do you think was different?”

I was so glad she asked; so thankful for moments like these, and so thankful for these books that give rise to significant discussion with my children.

Crusoe this time, unlike before when he’d completely forgotten the vows he’d made to God in his distress, was instead reading the Bible and thanking God for delivering him from his illness. And he was now feeling the weight of his own sin. He, like Christian, felt the burden on his back.

I chewed on these thoughts throughout the rest of the day. Do I value deliverance from my troubles greater than I do deliverance from my sin? Do my troubles overshadow the goodness of what our Lord has done for me? Do I really have a true sense of things?

The ideas it holds must each make that sudden, delightful impact upon their minds, must cause that intellectual stir, which mark the inception of an idea. ~Vol.3,p.178