The Rev Grant Cable spoke emotionally in his sermon. “Last Sunday you listened to my hell-fire sermon, and I frightened some of you. Did it bring any of you to repentance? . . . No, I can see you shaking your heads. . . You see, I had painted a completely false picture of the Divine Character. I had depicted God as a Salt-Cellar. I had predicted a time in the near future when the salt would run out. There would be no more mercy, no more forgiveness, no more love, just overwhelming wrath. But I was brought to my senses by an act of God’s wrath upon me. And then the Lord used a young lady, a member of your own congregation, to cleanse my mind and teach me what the Lord was really like. Whereas I had used the symbol of a salt-cellar, I was shown that God’s character was best depicted by an Egg-Timer. Once His wrath has been poured out, the Divine Hand turns the timer over, and the love and mercy begin to flow once again. And a Scripture was brought to my notice, ‘I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.’ Oh how gracious is our God. ‘Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.’ Our Lord is truly the same, yesterday, today and forever. May His name be praised.”
(Taken from a story I wrote in 1995 entitled “Susan’s Journal”, page 199.
