Good writers use word pictures

The Puritans did it all the time. When explaining the need for both prayer and the use of means in our afflictions, Thomas Brooks says: "As the pilot that guides the ship hath his hand upon the rudder, and his eye on the star that directs him at the same time; so when your hand is upon the means, let your eye be upon your God, and deliverance will come. We may neglect God as well by neglecting of means as by trusting in means; it is best to use them, and in the use of them, to live above them."