by Lynn H Blackburn @LynnHBlackburn
There’s a very cool section in the book of Numbers that I think has a unique application to writers.
If you haven’t perused this section of the Old Testament recently, you may not know that God gifted certain individuals with creative talents for the building of his Tabernacle and then called out entire families for specific areas of service.
Very specific.
He didn’t just say, “Hey, I want the Levites in charge of the Tabernacle.” He said, “I want this family responsible for the curtains, and this family responsible for the framework, and this family responsible for carrying the holy things. (Numbers 4 – check it out).
Here’s the thing … I wonder if some of the Levites in charge of the curtains felt slighted. They were Levites just like those guys in charge of the Ark of the Covenant. But could they carry it? Nope.
And I wonder if the Levites in charge of the Ark of the Covenant looked down their noses at the guys who carried the framework. I mean, really, how hard is it to carry poles?
Writers…
This may sound ridiculous, but I’ve noticed that we writers – we’re bad about doing this to each other and to ourselves.
God has given us a special gift. A calling. We’re all writers, but we aren’t going to write the same thing.
We may write poetry, historicals, romances, picture books, thrillers, devotionals, short stories, novellas, blog posts, memoirs, nonfiction, fantasy, sci-fi, literary, popular, comic books … the list goes on.
Whatever story you’ve been given to tell, in whatever format you’ve been gifted to tell it in, that’s what you’re supposed to do.
No genre or style is more important than any other, but it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking one type of writing, publication method, or story is better than another. I know. I’ve been guilty of it myself.
But the longer I hang around writers, and the more I learn about my own genre and the preferred genres of my friends, the more I realize that bringing your story to life, no matter how you choose to do so, is hard and important work.
We should be each other’s biggest cheerleaders, not each other’s biggest critics.
If you have a more literary bent, that’s fabulous. Just don’t disdain the writer who’s churning out fast-paced thrillers.
If you write epic family sagas, that’s great. Just don’t scorn the novella writers.
If you write nonfiction, that’s awesome. As long as you don’t consider all fiction writers to be hacks.
If you write poetry, bless you. But please don’t demean the romance novelists who have paperbacks in Walmart.
And on the flipside, if you write romances, novellas, or popular thrillers, there’s no need to throw stones at the poets, scholars, and historians.
Of course, sometimes the negativity isn’t coming from others – it’s coming from within.
I write romantic suspense. It’s the kind of story I’ve been given to tell.
But every now and then, I read some great literary work and my heart hurts. The beautiful prose. The elegant descriptions. Maybe I’m not a “real” writer because I don’t write like that? Or I read a poem that makes me cry and I wonder if anything I’ve written could ever measure up to such artistry.
That’s when I remember the Levites and the God who created them and then gave them specific work to do.
Sure, he could have left them to their own devices and the tabernacle would have been moved and set up, but it wouldn’t have been done as well. Those guys who carried the frame? I bet they figured out the best way to carry it and the fastest way to set it up. Those guys with the curtains probably knew exactly how many folds it would take to make a perfect square.
The work was done and it was done well because each one knew what they were supposed to do and they did it.
Our stories matter. The poems matter. The romances matter. The nonfiction matters. The comic books matter. Because there are people who will pick up a comic book who won’t touch a romance. There are people who will never read fiction, but they’ll read a memoir. And there are people who are afraid of poetry but will read a devotion based on the Psalms.
God uses stories to reach people. He uses history, poetry, and narratives, short and long. He uses romance, action, mystery and the supernatural.
As His creation, we do the same thing.
We handle holy things every time we put words on the page.
Let us not ever be guilty of diminishing the importance of our own work, or the work of our fellow writers who’ve also been assigned this role in the Kingdom.
So how about you? Ever feel like you aren’t a real writer because of your chosen genre? Or ever thought a particular type of writing was “easy” until you tried it for yourself? Let’s talk about it in the comments.
Grace and peace,
Lynn H. Blackburn loves writing romantic suspense because her childhood fantasy was to become a spy, but her grown-up reality is that she’s a huge chicken and would have been caught on her first mission. She prefers to live vicariously through her characters and loves putting them into all kinds of terrifying situations while she’s sitting at home safe and sound in her pajamas!
Unknown Threat, the first book in her Defend and Protect series, was a 2021 Christy Award finalist, and her previous titles have won the Carol Award, the Selah Award, and the Faith, Hope, and Love Reader’s Choice Award.
She is a frequent conference speaker and has taught writers all over the country. Lynn lives in South Carolina with her true love and their three children. You can follow her real life happily ever after by signing up for her newsletter at LynnHBlackburn.com and @LynnHBlackburn on Bookbub, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.
The Conversation
Wow, Lynn, your post is just what I needed. Thank you.
Thanks for a great reminder, Lynn. Blessings.
What a wonderful reminder, Lynn. Your post is spot on and such an encouragement. Thank you!
I love this! Thank you, Lynn. I write mostly speculative fiction ~ YA and younger. Sometimes, I worry a bit about it, but then I remind myself great truths can be told in a story, no matter the genre.
I’ve also learned over the years to stop coveting what God has given others. Yeah, coveting. One of the Big Ten. I had no idea I was coveting when I wished I had the gifts and talents of others.
After I learned to identify what God gave me, and that He selected them for me Himself, I felt ashamed and embarrassed before Him that I wasn’t happy with them. But He gave me so much encouragement from the Bible, from friends, and even from memes on FB! He’s so good to us!
And now I’m happy to write what He’s given me to write. I tell people I’m one of those people who love Jesus and write really weird things. haha! And now and then, I get to write something “normal.”
Well said, Lynn, and so very true. And no matter how much we might want to be the one who “carries the ark” if we diverted from our calling to do that, people we were supposed to reach with out stories won’t be reached, or God will have to send someone else. I don’t want to be responsible for missing that one person I was supposed to reach. Thanks for the reminder and the encouragement!
Excellent read and a timely reminder for me. Yes, I too, read and compare. Not cool! The connection to the building of the Tabernacle with specific instructions was awesome! Thank you. 🙂
Fantastic reminder, Lynn – thank you! I love the portion in Exodus, too (from Exodus 35-40), where it talks about God putting skill in people’s hearts to do the work of an engraver, of a perfumer, and even a person who was to make the very clasps for the curtains – each person had their place and their role, just like we all do today! “Then Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every skillful person in whom the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him, to come to the work to perform it.” (Exodus 36:2) 🙂
A view from Numbers I had not previously appreciated. I don’t think of Numbers as the most interesting book of the Bible, You’ve given me a different perspective. Thanks!