The Crusoe in Defoe

It seems to me the best fiction writers start with something important they believe, then develop characters and a story through which to say it, consciously or subconsciously. What someone values passionately cannot help but be represented in his art. This had to be the case with Daniel Defoe when he set about to write what is considered the first English novel, Robinson Crusoe, originally published in 1719. Maybe he, a devout Christian, deeply believed that faith and repentance can and should be applied to everyday life. Then he heard about a real person getting shipwrecked on a deserted island and voila! -- he had an idea for a character and a story, an isolated Job figure having to find a way to survive, finding himself in dire straits, terribly lonely and hopeless, yet humbled, filled with gratitude, possessing a Bible, and with lots of time to think and pray. Oh, the beautiful things Crusoe learned when he was stripped of everything, when he finally turned his heart to his Maker! Of course we can choose not to learn anything lasting and important in our afflictions. I think we all tend to comfort ourselves through distractions or comparisons instead of using our agency to apply to spiritual resources.
I'm sorry I never read this book until now. To paraphrase a line from Flannery O'Connor, "She would have been a good woman if she had been stranded on a desert island every day of her life." (We can hope!) Said our hero, "But it is never too late to be wise; and I cannot but advise all considering men . . . not to slight such secret intimations of Providence, let them come from what invisible intelligence they will . . . "