Is God Safe?

In his classic children's novel entitled The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the late Oxford and Cambridge scholar, C.S. Lewis, provides a description of what it would be like to stand before Ulitmate Royalty, which is portrayed in his book as a mighty lion named Aslan. Here we get to listen in on a conversation with Lucy, Susan and Mr. and Mrs. Beaver:

"'Is - he a man?' asked Lucy. 'Aslan a man!' said Mr. Beaver sternly. 'Certianly not. I tell you is he the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea...'

'Ooh!' said Susan. 'I'd though he was a man. Is he - quite safe? I shall feel rather nerous about meeting a lion.' 'That you will, dearie, and no mistake,' said Mrs. Beaver. 'If there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly.'

'Then he isn't safe?' said Lucy.

'Safe?' said Mr. Beaver. 'Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.'"

This description of meeting Aslan is gripping, for it helps to remove from our thinking the idea that God is safe and that somehow He can be tamed, for as Job said, God "does whatever he pleases" (Job 23:13). As we come before God the Almighty - the Everlasting Father, the Anicent of Days - we do so knowing that He is beyond what we can possibly imagine, but we also come knowing that He is good and full of love for all people everywhere.