God, whose Name is Jealous

 We tend to think about being jealous as a sin. Yes, it can be a very serious sinful condition, and we need to be very careful about allowing jealousy into our hearts. However, when we are jealous, we are showing how much we care for another person. We are being protective of our relationship because we treasure it so much. We do not want anyone or anything to get in the way of our love for them. What makes it a sin for us is that we want to deprive the one we love from being able to have relationships with others at the same time as having a relationship with us. We must not be controlling like that. It is very different with God. God can and should be jealous over our relationship with Him. (Exodus 34:14) That is what God told Moses to tell the people of Israel. Moses commanded them to worship no other gods, because the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about His relationship with us. Let's think about how wonderful this is for us.

The God of the universe wants to have an exclusive, personal relationship with us, so we can be fulfilled. It is not for His pleasure, or so He can control us for His benefit. After all, God is independent, and there is nothing that He needs to be complete. He is totally concerned with the quality of our lives. He knows if we worship other gods, we will be taken away from a close relationship with Him, and that will bring problems and pain into our lives which we do not need to experience. We can still have relationships with other people, and we can do things we want to do, but our love for Him must be above all others, and we must not fail to do His will completely because we are letting other gods get in the way. He wants to have our full attention 24/7, so He can lavish His love on us and direct us in the best way for us to happy and fulfilled. Believe me, nothing is better than God. When we bask in His love, we experience the best life possible, and it lasts for eternity. That is why God's name is Jealous.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Exodus 35-38.