What do Writers and Moses Have in Common?

A Guest Post from Grace Fox

As a writer, I believe God has given me the assignment of communicating truth through the written word. Some days I feel confident of my call. Ideas flow and fingers fly. An editor accepts an article. A royalty check arrives. And a reader emails, “Your book changed my life. Please keep writing.”

Other days the computer screen stares at me in silence. My fingers hover over the keyboard awaiting a divine download. I pour a cup of coffee. A rejection hits my inbox. More coffee. I check my Amazon stats, and I entertain thoughts about getting a real job.

On the days when fulfilling my task seems daunting, I think about Moses. How did he feel when he stood facing the Red Sea? His was a God-given task, but as waves wet his feet perhaps he, like me, toyed with the temptation to seek a different job.

I face a sea of a different sort and wonder how to best tackle the challenges it holds:

How can I develop my idea into an irresistible query or proposal?

What’s the right market for that query or proposal?

How can I ensure my work passes the slush pile and lands on the editor’s desk?

How can I overcome the pain of rejection or disappointment?

What must I do to secure an agent?

What’s the best publishing option for my book?

What marketing and publicity strategies are most effective for my book?

How do I best utilize social media marketing?

How can I build my platform?

Writing for publication, especially considering the industry’s constant, rapid changes, is not an easy task. Amidst the challenges, it’s vital that we, as writers, focus not on the sea before us but on the One who’s able to part the waters and show us the way through them. Several weeks ago I discovered these verses:

“When the Red Sea saw you, O God, its waters looked and trembled! The sea quaked to its very depths… Your road led through the sea, your pathways through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there! You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds” (Psalm 77:16-20).

These verses remind me that we, as writers, needn’t be intimidated by the challenges inherent to our work. On the contrary, we ought to find encouragement in knowing these challenges quake before God, for whom nothing is impossible.

God gave Moses an extraordinary task and then made the way to accomplish it. He’ll do the same for us as we seek to communicate messages of hope and healing to a hurting world. Let’s be faithful to do what He’s called us to do with excellence and enthusiasm, and let’s trust Him to make a way through the publishing Red Sea for our messages to reach those who need them most. 

To learn more about Grace visit her website