and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.”
Psalm 51:14-15
Context:
The psalmist asks the Lord for mercy and forgiveness of sin and declares he will tell others of God’s righteousness.
Devotional
When I began writing fiction, I created a purpose statement that conveyed my desire to create God-honoring, life-changing messages through the form of entertaining stories. I keep this statement and a key verse, “I’ve decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified,” 1 Cor 2:2 before my heart and mind.
Psalm 51 reminds me that knowing nothing except Jesus and Him crucified is an impossible task apart from God. We need God’s mercy to cleanse and purify us. God creates clean hearts. God causes ears to hear and bones to rejoice. God restores joy. God delivers from bloodguiltiness. God opens lips and mouths to declare His praise. Apart from God, our sin is ever before us. God not only calls us to a purpose but then requires us to depend on Him to live it out.
Psalm 51
Ponder:
The singing and declaring that burst from the lips of the psalmist are a result of God opening his lips. What impact might it have on our writing if we began every writing session by confessing our guilt and inviting the God of our salvation to open the lips of our pens and the tongues of our keyboards that our words might declare His praise?
Pray:
Lord, too often, I run ahead of You, eager to get the words on the page, anxious about meeting a deadline or goal. Today, instead, I begin by confessing my desire to control the outcome of my efforts. I confess that sometimes, I need less productivity and more time with You. I need to listen better. I need to welcome You and set aside my words. I invite You to open my lips, and I pray the words that flow would teach others Your ways.
Lord, I desire to obey You in all things. David models the kind of humble repentance that pleases You. He freely admits that his sin is first and foremost against You. The same is true in my life. Against You and only You have I sinned. Therefore, you are justified in Your wrath. You desire truth in the innermost of my being, so Lord, I ask that You will make me know wisdom. Lord, show me how to weave Your truth through my writing. I do not want a separation between my faith and my job. I desire to have my faith in You impact every word that flows from my mind. Create in me a clean heart. Renew a steadfast spirit. Keep me in Your presence. Fill me with Your Spirit. Restore to me the joy of salvation and sustain with a willing spirit.
Even after I had several articled published in magazines, I didn’t call myself a writer. Even though I spent most of my free time writing, it felt too presumptuous to say, “I’m a writer.” Instead, I would say, “I like to write.” Or, “I have written a few things.” But to give myself the title, writer? I just couldn’t do it.
That is, not until I approached the registration table at my very first writer’s conference. I looked down at the label on my nametag and there it was: Writer. I hesitated, glancing out at the atrium filling with people who actually were writers. Did I need their permission? Should I show someone credentials?
Putting on that nametag felt like a deeply solemn thing to do. I took a deep breath and with gravity, feeling the weight of the action, I slipped it on.
Wearing Your Nametag
Fear is the number one thing that prompts writers and speakers to bury our “talent” in the ground, rather than investing and multiplying what we’ve been given by God. Instead of stepping up onto our platforms to boldly proclaim truth, we slip into the back section of the auditorium, labelled “Still Too Afraid”.
What sort of fears hold us back?
Fear of being rejected by yet another publisher.
Fear of being given low, critical reviews.
Fear of selling an embarrassingly low number of books.
Fear of being perceived as showy or self-serving.
Fear of having nothing significant to say.
Do any of these sound familiar? If fear is holding you back, I’d like to offer you one simple strategy for gathering courage as you step out to write or speak, using your God-given talent. I call it the Principal of the Foreword.
Foreword
A foreword in a book is the “word” that comes “before” the main message. The foreword often offers an explanation of how this material evolved or it gives the backstory, telling what prompted the author to write it.
Instead of asking you to think about the foreword of your next book, I encourage you to think about the foreword for your ministry as a whole. How did this all begin for you? What set you on this path, in the first place?
As you consider your “foreword”, consider asking yourself these three questions:
What first stirred me to share this message? Did I experience something significant? Was I exposed to some injustice? Were my eyes opened to some truth?
Who affirmed me? Did someone validate my particular gifts? Who encouraged me to try? What effect did my words have?
What doors opened? Did I have an unusual opportunity? Was I given a platform to stand on?
Take some time to think through these questions thoughtfully. Reflect and journal your responses. Consider the various legs of your platform-growing journey. Now go back and title your journal response, “My Foreword”.
The Author
Often the foreword of a book is written by someone with expertise, giving the book credibility. As you glance through your journal entry, ask yourself, “Who wrote my foreword?” If you think deeply, I think you’ll come to the conclusion that you didn’t actually write this backstory. God did.
God is the one who wove together the happenstance of your life, creating significant experiences which stirred up the messages inside of you. God also is the one who brought people to encourage, affirm, and train you. And God alone has opened the doors you’ve walked through. He’s given you opportunities and platform-building experiences.
Do you agree that God is the author of your foreword? To emphasize this, at the end of your journal entry, write, “Written by: God”.
Remembering Your Foreword
Why is this helpful? How does this exercise grant new confidence?
Suppose you’re cringing at the thought of sharing your news about a book contract on social media. Or suppose you’re worried about what people would think if you present yourself as an “expert” on any given subject. Suppose you are quivering in a corner, with a decided case of impostor syndrome, thinking, “Why did I ever set out to do this?”
In times like these, go back to your foreword. Remind yourself of the ways that God gave you this message. Review the ways other Christians have affirmed your gifts and calling. Look back at all of the doors God has opened in the past. The opportunity you now face is just one more door to step through!
Reviewing your Foreword helps put your message into context. You aren’t stepping out on a platform to share your big ideas with the world. You’re stepping out onto the platform God put under your feet to share the message he prompted you to deliver.
As you step out onto your platform, you’re part of something much bigger than yourself. You’re part of the bigger story of God.
Influence: Building a Platform that Elevates Jesus (Not Me), was co-authored by Shannon Popkin and Kate Motaung, and is designed to help you think about how to gather followers of Jesus and change the world—but not in the way the world says to. Check out Shannon’s site for more resources and take the Influence Quiz here.
Shannon is happy to be sharing life with Ken, who makes her laugh every single day. Together, they live the fast-paced life of parenting three high school and college-aged kids. For more from Shannon, please go to shannonpopkin.com, or connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
“Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.”
Psalm 34:13
Telling the story of how God captured our hearts, led us to faith and repentance, and transformed our lives is often called sharing our testimony. Testimonies are powerful opportunities for believers to declare their confidence in the Lord, not only in what He has done in redeeming them, but in what He will continue to do for them as they walk in obedience, and how God longs to do this for others. These shared stories allow the church family to praise God together for His saving work in the lives of the people. They are a declaration of what God has done and an invitation to join in praising Him.
David begins Psalm 34 by declaring his story of confidence in the Lord. He tells a story of continual praise and invites his listeners to join him in magnifying the Lord. Throughout the first 11 verses, David intersperses a call to join the praise with details from his testimony.
David invites the humble to “magnify” and “exalt” the Lord (v3) because those who “look to him are radiant and unashamed” (v5). He implores the hearer to “taste and see the Lord is good” (8), to fear the Lord (9) and listen to him (11). He speaks of himself as a poor man who cried out to God, and the Lord heard. The Lord saved him from his troubles. His story is an invitation to believe that if God could hear, answer, deliver, save, and redeem him, then He can do this for the reader. He invites the people to come, listen, and fear the Lord (11).
Wisdom
The rest of the Psalm is filled with wisdom for the righteous. The man who wants to see good (12) must do good (14). The details of how this goodness plays out in the lives of the redeemed are sandwiched in between those statements, the redeemed should keep their tongues from evil (13). This command is so important that he rephrases it in the last part of the sentence, “keep your lips from speaking deceit.” The list continues. Turn from evil, do good, seek peace, pursue peace (14).
Troubles
David acknowledges that the righteous will face troubles. The righteous will cry, be brokenhearted, crushed, and afflicted (12-19). But our souls can boast in the Lord because God delivers us. He slays the wicked and condemns those who hate the righteous (21). None who take refuge in God will be condemned (22).
Ponder
If the redeemed should keep their tongues from evil (13), should redeemed authors keep their pens from evil? Should we keep our words from communicating deceit? How do we turn from evil, do good, seek peace, and pursue peace (14) while telling stories of brokenness and redemption?
Pray
Lord, we hear the wisdom of this passage. As Your children, the words we write and speak should be truthful, good, and peaceful. As we craft the necessary scenes to illustrate the fallen state of characters, we ask for the Spirit’s help to show the awfulness of life apart from You. We ask for the Spirit’s help to create character arcs that illustrate the saving power of Christ. Give us the courage to write boldly and the wisdom to differentiate between necessary details and sensationalism.
