They are turned back and utterly put to shame,
who trust in carved idols,
who say to metal images,
“You are our gods.”
– Isaiah 42:17
The First Commandment is, of course, “Have no other gods before Me.”
Certainly not Communication. To reify our writing, to make of it a genie that draws magic words from our innermost parts, would be to deify it.
And certainly not the carved idol of metal that holds images, the computer on which we work. It matters not that on the computer the images move and offer to entertain us. Instead, the writer must entertain, not by presenting fictional situations, but new ideas, new ways of presenting conflict in a fashion that honors God and not our own self-aggrandizement.
Our God is a consuming fire, says the Scripture. Yet the effort to express our heart, to wring novel concepts from the depths of our souls may also be consuming, of our time, our emotions, our energies, almost to the point of worship.
To write that which honors God, we must identify with Him just as He does with us. He took on our likeness, suffered alongside us, and by his tragedy redeemed us.
In other words, He endured conflict to bring out an awe-inspiring ending.
He is Emmanuel, God with us.
How can we draw on His strength, as He suffers alongside us, to glorify Him as we write?
