Is it possible to say anything literal about God? Within a biblical (Semitic) perspective, one can make at least the following literal statements about God (without exhausting the magnificence of any Divine activity or attribute): God creates, loves, self-discloses, judges, forgives the penitent, empowers, redeems, and suitably protects and provides; as such, God is holy, glorious, awesome, majestic, personal, knowing, good, flawless, independent, incomparable, inexhaustible, gracious, just, merciful, purposeful, generous, invisible, everlasting, consistent, present, powerful, and sovereign. "... it is essential to realize that according to the Bible the knowledge of God is not reached by abstract speculation, as in Greek philosophy, but in the actual everyday business of living, of social relationships and of current historical events. God is not known by thinking out ideas about him, but by seeking and doing his will as made known to us by prophetic men and by our own consciousness of right and wrong." [from "God" in Richardson, A Theological Wordbook of the Bible (1960), p. 89] Such - and more - is the living God of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam!
It is clear in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer that the God worshiped is more than a “figure of speech,” but the God of Abraham and Jesus, understood literally in the above sense.
Please read the scholarly papers “Mystical vs. Biblical Symbolism” and “The Logic of Biblical Anthropomorphism” written by Dr. Edmond La B. Cherbonnier in the Cherbonnier subsite.