The sermon was going to be about Moses + the burning bush, and how we need to have the Fear of God. The (male) pastor writing the sermon wrote about how the Fear of God is like a gun—saying that a gun on its own is not something that terrifies you, since it is not inherently bad, but you still have a healthy respect for it because of what it could do.
My stomach turned at the illustration. God is like a gun? But…I am drawn to God. Why would I ever be drawn to a gun? Its purpose is to destroy—why would I ever want to think about God like that? Is this really the best, or even most appropriate way to illustrate this concept?
As my thoughts tried to form a coherent idea or counter illustration, the rest of the (male) pastors nodded and verbally approved the gun illustration. The meeting continued and concluded and I still had not spoken up.
Days passed and I still couldn’t get that darned illustration out of my head. I knew that the demographic of our area was one that included many hunters. Gun violence or mass shootings, neither were something that had directly impacted the small towns that our church locations resided in. The country at large had become numb to the news of mass shootings–many not even making it to the headline news (especially during a Trump administration). But all the while, I couldn’t quite get over the grossness of the illustration–the way it missed the mark of what the fear of God is.
It was two weeks before that sermon was to be preached and the small group I led was discussing a chapter in a book about the Trinity. In the chapter, the author wrote about the Fear of God, and gave the illustration of the Grand Canyon–a world wonder that people planned trips to go see, marveled at, while still knowing that it could kill them.
Yes! THIS is what the Fear of God is like! Having a right perspective of Him, and because of it, being drawn to Him in all His majesty, power and love.
The next day I drafted up an email to the men who would be preaching the sermon.
“Hey guys!
My small group has been going through The Joy of the Trinity by Tara-Leigh Cobble, and last night we read a chapter that talked about the fear of God. I thought I’d share a few quotes that stood out to me, in case they might be useful for the first message of Mountaintop Moments. If not, no worries! :)…”
I ended up hearing back from two of the three preachers. They appreciated what I had shared with them. But when the time came for them to preach the message, two of them still used the gun illustration and the third didn’t use an illustration at all.
It’s now been a couple weeks since that message was preached, and I guess I am still processing it. Why use an illustration that is mediocre at best, when there is one that just hits the mark so much better (and one of the men even said so in his email response!)? Why would we ever want to compare God to something that is a man-made creation with the purpose of destruction, even when used for protection? Something that God will have no use for in His Kingdom, in new creation?
Why do we settle for dust when grand canyons are at our fingertips?