{"id":5621,"date":"2026-08-03T08:26:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T12:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5621"},"modified":"2026-08-03T08:26:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T12:26:24","slug":"unforgettable-pictures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/03\/unforgettable-pictures\/","title":{"rendered":"Unforgettable Pictures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast<\/em>,\u00a0click here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Each day this August we\u2019ll be looking at one of the extraordinary metaphors that the Bible uses to illustrate the nature of our relationship with God.<\/em>


Irish parliamentarian Boyle Roche aimed to make a statement every listener would remember for a long time:

He certainly succeeded \u2013 but not exactly for the reasons he had in mind:

\u201cMr. Speaker, I smell a rat. I see him floating in the air. But mark me, sir, I will nip him in the bud.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>

This is what is known as a mixed metaphor \u2013 the unintentional (or sometimes deliberately comical) mingling of two or more unrelated word pictures.

Other examples include, \u201cIt\u2019s not rocket surgery\u201d (a mash-up of \u201cit\u2019s not rocket science\u201d and \u201cit\u2019s not brain surgery\u201d), \u201cWe\u2019ll burn that bridge when we come to it,\u201d and, \u201cThe sacred cows have come home to roost.\u201d Yikes.

Metaphors are figures of speech that describe one thing by stating it is another thing. Shakespeare wrote, \u201cAll the world\u2019s a stage.\u201d He didn\u2019t mean that whenever we step outside we\u2019re likely to stumble into footlights and curtains. But he certainly intended to convey a powerful, particular idea.

Crazy things happen when metaphors collide. But that\u2019s no reason to give up on one of the most important gadgets in the toolbox of human communication \u2013 speaking metaphorically, of course.

On the pages of the Bible, metaphors matter. That\u2019s because they are, hands down, the best way \u2013 perhaps the only way \u2013 to communicate essential truths about God. Think about it: How can we possibly describe what it means to be in a relationship with an all-powerful, all-knowing, invisible Deity?

Scripture presents a series of metaphors, each of which says something \u2013 but not everything \u2013 about connecting with our Creator.\u00a0

They range from the very simple to the unimaginably intimate.

Isaiah and Jeremiah, for instance, declare that God is the potter and we are the clay. The apostle Peter insists that God is a master builder and we are the living stones he is using to construct a new temple, with Jesus as the cornerstone.\u00a0\u00a0

Christ draws a botanical picture in the Gospel of John, where he says that he is the vine and we are the branches.\u00a0\u00a0

Then there’s that memorable metaphor, in both Old and New Testaments, that comes from the fields.\u00a0The Lord is our shepherd and we are the sheep grazing in his pasture.\u00a0

It’s hard to generate a great deal of reassurance by remembering, “I am one of God’s rocks,” or to seek guidance by asking, “What should a lump of clay do today?”\u00a0Most of us have a much easier time picturing the human<\/em> metaphors for relating to God.

Jesus, for instance, says that we are workers in God’s harvest fields.\u00a0We are soldiers serving in his ranks. We are servants in God’s household.\u00a0On more than 30 occasions, the apostle Paul ratchets up the intimacy by declaring that we are Christ’s body, while he is the Head.\u00a0\u00a0

But the tenderness starts to become breathtaking when we ponder the Bible’s family metaphors.

The book of Hebrews states that Jesus is not ashamed to call us his siblings.\u00a0And Romans 8 tells us that we are God’s adopted children \u2013 spiritual orphans invited to sit at his kitchen table for the rest of our lives. Most amazing of all, God has invited us into marriage.\u00a0We are more than just workers or apprentices or sheep.\u00a0We are the Bride of Christ<\/em>.

No other religion on Earth has dared to suggest such dramatic pictures of the divine-human relationship. \u00a0

Every day this month we\u2019ll take a close look at a single one of these word pictures. In each case we\u2019ll ask, \u201cIf God is this<\/u><\/em>, then what does that make us<\/u><\/em>? And what should we be thinking or doing today to experience the richness of what these verses are telling us?\u201d

Before we start, let\u2019s address the question that inevitably arises whenever we consider biblical figures of speech: Aren\u2019t we supposed to take the Word of God literally<\/em>?

The answer is yes. But also no.

Taking the Bible literally means interpreting it \u201caccording to the kind of literature the author intended.\u201d

When Revelation 5:5 tells us that Jesus is the Lion of Judah, we shouldn\u2019t expect the Son of God to have paws, claws, and a mane. Rather, he is endowed with character qualities we generally associate with the king of beasts: fierceness, power, and a natural intimidation of foes.\u00a0

Thus we embrace the metaphor of the leonine identity of Jesus \u2013 according to the intentions of the author \u2013 without succumbing to a wooden<\/em> literalism that takes every word at face value.\u00a0

In Psalm 18, David recounts a moment of deep distress in which he called out to Yahweh for help. Did God respond? Yes, he did, and dramatically: \u201cSmoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire\u00a0came from his mouth, burning coals\u00a0blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds\u00a0were under his feet (18:8-9).

This is Hebrew poetry at its best, not a prooftext that God has nostrils, a mouth, and feet \u201cbecause the Bible says so.\u201d David is telling us, by means of unforgettable word pictures, that God is entirely serious about defending his people.

That\u2019s what we\u2019ll encounter throughout this month: unforgettable pictures of how we are called to relate to God.

We\u2019ll start our journey tomorrow!
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here Each day this August we\u2019ll be looking at one of the extraordinary metaphors that the Bible uses to illustrate the nature of our relationship with God. Irish parliamentarian Boyle Roche aimed to make a statement every listener would remember for a long time: He certainly succeeded \u2013 but not exactly for… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1160,1159],"class_list":["post-5621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-literal-interpretation","tag-metaphors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5623,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5621\/revisions\/5623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}