The Secret Things
Deuteronomy 29:29 (New International Version)
29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us...
Romans 11:33 (Amplified Bible)
33Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unfathomable (inscrutable, unsearchable) are His judgments (His decisions)! And how untraceable (mysterious, undiscoverable) are His ways (His methods, His paths)!
But...there is a change of ownership and responsibility here--the things revealed belong to us.
The insights he reveals to mere humans through his Word, are ours to be blessed by personally--to be nourished and changed by--but they belong to us as a trust."
I wrote these words this weekend--at an annual writers conference--my eighth, early in the morning as I spent time listening for his voice. They had deep significance for me.
Several years ago I took a workshop with N.J. Lindquist--Discovering the Writer in You. She said that when God gives an insight we should treat it like gold--to be cherished and used--passed on.
It was a couple of years later when Marilyn Yocum, another instructor said, "Don't say it's a "call" (to write) and then disrespect the Lord by not following through on it."
Both exhortations were spurs on my writing journey.
John 15:15-16 (New International Version)
15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last...
Jesus makes known his secrets that we may share them with others. We must do so carefully. It is so easy to put a personal or denominational slant on his words. As writers we have a responsibility when we pass on his words or an insight--to be faithful to him--his character and his true intent.
"You ... must remember that a great charge has been given you, that you are here for one thing and one thing only ... to listen. The whole duty of Art is listening for the voice of God...
So it must be with you. You are here to listen. Never mind if they tell you that story-telling is a cheap thing, a popular thing, a mean thing. It is the instrument that is given to you and if, when you come to die you know that, for brief moments, you have heard, and that what you have heard you have written, Life has been justified."
H. Walpole
29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us...
Romans 11:33 (Amplified Bible)
33Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unfathomable (inscrutable, unsearchable) are His judgments (His decisions)! And how untraceable (mysterious, undiscoverable) are His ways (His methods, His paths)!
"The secret things belong to the Lord. Yes, he is a God of secrets and he holds the mysteries of the universe.
But...there is a change of ownership and responsibility here--the things revealed belong to us.
The insights he reveals to mere humans through his Word, are ours to be blessed by personally--to be nourished and changed by--but they belong to us as a trust."
I wrote these words this weekend--at an annual writers conference--my eighth, early in the morning as I spent time listening for his voice. They had deep significance for me.
Several years ago I took a workshop with N.J. Lindquist--Discovering the Writer in You. She said that when God gives an insight we should treat it like gold--to be cherished and used--passed on.
It was a couple of years later when Marilyn Yocum, another instructor said, "Don't say it's a "call" (to write) and then disrespect the Lord by not following through on it."
Both exhortations were spurs on my writing journey.
John 15:15-16 (New International Version)
15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last...
Jesus makes known his secrets that we may share them with others. We must do so carefully. It is so easy to put a personal or denominational slant on his words. As writers we have a responsibility when we pass on his words or an insight--to be faithful to him--his character and his true intent.
"You ... must remember that a great charge has been given you, that you are here for one thing and one thing only ... to listen. The whole duty of Art is listening for the voice of God...
So it must be with you. You are here to listen. Never mind if they tell you that story-telling is a cheap thing, a popular thing, a mean thing. It is the instrument that is given to you and if, when you come to die you know that, for brief moments, you have heard, and that what you have heard you have written, Life has been justified."
H. Walpole
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Dave Hingsburger
Kiddo