In the pursuit of God, we must remember, our perspective is humble compared to the nature of Who we seek, like a king beetle trying to figure out the nature of fire.
“The King Beetle On A Coconut Estate” is a story of the pursuit of the Unknown. The profoessor, goes to study, the politician to win it over, and the solider to overpower it. Since the thing they seek to study is nothing more than fire, they all run for fear of being destroyed.
It’s the King Beetle who realizes that you can’t really understand the nature of fire without being consumed by it.
It’s a rather painful illustration, that can be easily misinterpreted. As an allogory of our pursuit of God, we must be careful not to run with it too far. But there is some truth in this powerful story.
Simply put, the thing we are reminded is this: God does not want to be sutdied, won over, or conquered. God wants to be one with us, and that requires that we are in many ways consummed–our sin destroyed and our life renewed.
God desires all of us, not just our curiosity. Thus it says in Hebrews:
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”
Joe Graves 