What is the most common excuse for not writing? For me it is this: Why spend months, and even years in researching and writing when I have no guarantee that my work will be published? What a waste of time. Shouldn’t I invest all that effort into pursuits that produce results I can see?
What if the authors of God’s Word had had this same attitude? If Abraham had said, “No, that’s ridiculous. I’m not packing up my wife, my servants and my thousands of animals and trekking off to some unknown land.”
If Moses had said, “Forget it, I’m not climbing that mountain to seek a God I cannot see.” He would not have written the Ten Commandments, which is some of the earliest writing ever discovered, and has shaped the policies of every developed nation for over 3000 years.
Instead, Moses persevered because he chose to see the invisible. (Hebrews 11:27).
Noah also chose to listen to God’s warning about things not yet seen, and to build an ark to save his family (Hebrews 11:7).
Rahab chose to see victory for the rag-tag Hebrew army against her walled city. While Jericho was guarded by soldiers equipped with the latest weapons and backed by the military strength of Egypt, she chose instead chose to see that which was invisible. Her story has endured for centuries.
That puts my writing into another perspective. Many of these authors never saw their work published and they never saw the things they prophesied come true. They died, in some cases, hundreds of years before they were affirmed.
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance” (Hebrews 11:13).
God cradled their words close to his heart. He cherished them until the timing was right and then released them to the world – first in his Son, the living Word, and later through the scribes as they transcribed the ancient scrolls and, running for their lives, hid them. A shepherd boy discovered original parchments from the Hebrew Bible in the caves of Qumran nearly 2000 years after the life of Jesus.
God cradles our writing too. Our words, though they are not the inspired and infallible Word of God, are inspired by Him. Do you ever feel like you’re swept along when you get into your writing? So did the ancient prophets.
“...Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).
I can choose to see the invisible. I can welcome the affirmation of my words from a distance, as these Godly people exemplified. I must push through my mistakes, the rejections, my self-doubt, and press on in faith, knowing that the writing I do now will have a purpose later.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every thing that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith...” Hebrews 12:1,2a.
by Pamela Mytroen
Well said, Pam. I've often battled the same feelings you describe (what a waste of time!). However, I'm at a place now, where I'm seeing one of those 'what a waste of time' projects almost finished. And what a sense of elation!
ReplyDeleteI see that all those hours of research, dreaming, writing, and rewriting have and will pay off. So push through, whatever project a part of you is saying 'what a waste of time' to. Someday it won't seem like a waste of time any more.