Why We Don’t Write

I haven’t been writing.

Chances are, if you’re reading this, you haven’t been writing, either – at least not as much as you’d like. You’ve got a full time job, kids to raise, a home to maintain. Your best friend is going through a tough time right now and desperately needs you. And volunteering at church is taking a bigger bite out of your schedule than you thought it would. You just don’t have time to write.

Go ahead and tell yourself this is why you aren’t writing. But it’s a lie.

And you lie about it all the time. You tell yourself that when you finish that big project at work, you’ll write. Once your friend’s cancer is in remission, you’ll write. When the kids go back to school in the fall, you’ll write. As soon as… rubbish. You won’t.

I don’t doubt that you’re too busy to write. But that’s not why you don’t write, it’s only the excuse. You don’t write because you’re afraid. Afraid you aren’t good enough. Regardless of what other people have told you about your writing abilities, there’s a tiny voice whispering in your ear that says you don’t have what it takes. So you keep yourself occupied, because there’s no shame in being too busy.

My fellow Writers Interrupted, God has given us a gift. He has put stories on our hearts for us to share His message with a fallen world. He has given us talent to write, provided resources to help hone His gift, and put people along our path to encourage us in the journey. Still, we listen to the whisper. And we believe it. And we don’t write.

Think about that for a minute. God has called us to write. For Him. The same God who tasked Moses with freeing his people from slavery in Egypt has given us a mission. And like Moses before us, we don’t think we can do it.

Ex. 4:10 – Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

That has a familiar ring – it sounds like me listening to that voice that tells me I don’t measure up.

When I first felt God ask me to write, I wrote. I took sample chapters to some conferences and received positive feedback from all the editors who saw my work. But I listened to that insidious whisper. I started doubting myself, began questioning if perhaps I’d gotten lucky with those chapters, wondered if maybe the editors were just being kind. So I got really busy, and didn’t have time to write as much. But I wanted to write! So I prayed for more time to do it.

The day after that prayer, without warning, my employer of eighteen years laid me off. Wait, it gets better. They also gave me nine month’s severance pay. I had prayed for God to give me time to write, and the next day he handed me nine months.

So I diligently wrote…nothing but resumes. Well, that’s not exactly true. I also wrote cover letters. A little over two months later, I got a good paying job that required more hours, a longer commute, and correspondingly less time to write. I told myself I took the job to provide for my family. But if I’m being honest, I took it because I didn’t trust God. More precisely, I didn’t trust that I could do what He was asking of me. And I pretty much stopped writing all together.

I’ve spent years ignoring God’s call. Recently, my wife raised a question that frightened me more than the prospect of not being good enough to write. She helped me realize that I don’t want God to give up on me. I want to come through for Him.

So I’m going to write again. I’m going to do it with the full knowledge that I don’t have what it takes. Because I don’t measure up – at least not by myself. You don’t, either. Nor did Moses. We all have flaws and faults and failures, because we’re human, and they’re part of the gig. So what if we don’t think we can do it? God says He’ll help us.

Ex. 4:12 – “Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

God has called you to write. He has given you stories that only you can bring forth. Are you going to do what He asks, or are you going to let fear keep you from the task? Before you answer, consider the question my wife presented to me.

What if He stops asking?