The Promised Land of a Writer

by Ruby Cline Lee

In Numbers 13, the Lord told Moses to send spies into the promised land, which resulted in conflicting reports: the land flowed with milk, honey, and . . . giants? Sadly, the undercover agents felt like tiny grasshoppers compared to the Canaanites. Not to mention, their fortified cities loomed—large and impregnable.

In Chapter 14, the Israelites responded with fear and outrage, focusing on the bad news
and forgetting the wonders God had just done a few short chapters ago. The crowd basically threw a temper tantrum and turned against Moses. Caleb and Joshua pleaded with the people to have faith but they morphed into an angry mob and threatened to pick up stones.

Some pretty bad things happened to the naysayers. But Joshua and Caleb trusted God in the face of insurmountable odds and lived to enter the promised land.

After reading this, I had to ask myself if I had the same kind of faith when it came to my writing. Who did I more closely resemble? The people who were afraid, or the people who trusted?

The world of writing and publishing can feel like a land of scary giants and fortified cities
with walls that are too high to climb. It can seem impossible to get published, let alone be
successful. A writer can easily feel like a grasshopper among giants in this industry. It’s
easy to tremble in fear, wallow in doubt, or falter in God’s calling to be a writer.

Yes, this world is daunting. The tasks overwhelming. The prospects slim. The giants loom.

But God.

But God has called me to this promised land–whatever that might look like. After four
years, I’m still unpublished and bumping around in a state of mild confusion. But I’m
marching onward. Into the land of the giants I go, though I’m a tiny bug. Thankfully,
publishers, agents, and readers aren’t going to attack me with a sword for trying to enter
this industry. Thankfully, I am only a proverbial grasshopper and the industry is only a
proverbial Goliath (sigh).

As writers, our responsibility is to keep moving forward into the unknown and leave the
results up to God. The promised land in this industry looks different for every writer. For
some, it might be an act of obedience to move forward after a tough rejection. For others,
it might be doing the next thing after meeting a personal goal, big or small. It’s all about
obeying God.

Here’s my writing mantra: to God be all praise and glory, honor and power. I will put my
trust in Him and walk boldly into the promised land. No matter what. One baby step at a
time. One word at a time. One day at a time. One conference at a time. One post at a
time. One breath at a time. God will be my cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. He
will show me the way. He will show you the way. He will be our God and we will be His
people.

Our personal goals may or may not be met, but our one true goal is to lift up His name
and honor the King. He is the author of our writing journeys. And that’s the part where
we leave the results in His hands. The Bible is replete with instances of this very same act
of faith: Peter, walking on water. Ruth, moving to Moab. Moses, returning to Egypt.
Esther, going before the King. Hosea, marrying a prostitute. John, speaking against
Herod. Noah, building an ark. Rahab, harboring spies. And of course, Caleb and Joshua
entering the promised land.

Now, it’s up to us.

Let’s go out and do the same.

Numbers 14: “…Your cloud stands over them; and you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.”

Since Ruby Cline Lee was a little girl, she has been obsessed with books, which led to her love of reading and writing. She has a M.Ed. In Teaching English from Liberty University and has taught composition and literature classes at LU as well as Central Virginia Community College. Visit Ruby on her website, X (Twitter) or Instagram @RubyClineLee or Facebook.