Writing for His Glory: Eyes to See

Writing for His Glory is a series of reflections and writing prompts drawn from a writers’ workshop for high school students. Author Kathryn Butler (The DreamKeeper Saga) originally shared these with the Story Warren audience a few years ago.

Says Butler, “God spoke all of creation into existence by His Word; as He made us in His image, we can glorify Him with our own. My prayer is that these reflections prompt you to wonder, praise, and pick up your pen.”

Great writing requires a keen eye. To draw a reader into our inner world, we need to provide sensory details to make the imagery come alive. For the Christian, a keen eye also helps us perceive God’s goodness and presence in the everyday.

The word “behold” occurs 1,000 times in the Bible, because as fallen creatures we too often don’t see. We don’t attend to our own sin. We don’t pause to admire the artistry of God’s creation around us. We don’t see his mercy and love at work in all things.

Writing for God’s glory requires us to approach the world differently. “Come and see what God has done,” we read in Psalm. 66:5, “he is marvelous in his deeds for the children of man.” John Piper urges Christian writers to sharpen their vision: “Look at the Word, and look at the world, in a quest to see God as marvelous. Cultivate a capacity to see what is there, and to savor what you see. It is more likely you will find heart-awakening words if you are awake yourself.” (John Piper, 2022 Desiring God Writers’ Summit)

The following is an example of this habit, from Jane Austen. She considers God’s goodness as she sees the day ending:

We thank thee with all our hearts for every gracious dispensation, for all the blessings that have attended our lives, for every hour of safety, health and peace, of domestic comfort and innocent enjoyment. We feel that we have been blessed far beyond anything that we have deserved; and though we cannot but pray for a continuance of all these mercies, we acknowledge our unworthiness of them and implore thee to pardon the presumption of our desires.

Keep us oh! Heavenly Father, from evil this night. Bring us in safety to the beginning of another day and grant that we may rise again with every serious and religious feeling which now directs us.

-From “Evening Prayer”