Is being jealous ever a good thing? Doesn’t jealousy lead to envy? Isn’t it wrong to want what others have? When someone demonstrates jealousy in a relationship, don’t we see it as a bad thing? So why does God say that he is a jealous God?
Exodus 20:1-5
And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.”
Today’s passage is the first commandment of the Ten Commandments that God gave Moses. God started with the clear statement, “I am the Lord your God.” And then the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.” God’s reasoning was this, “For I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” Later, in Exodus 34:14, God told Moses, “For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (El Kanna).”
Jealousy, tainted by man’s sin, is a character flaw. Jealousy causes us to want things that are not ours and embitters us to the person who has them. In Galatians 5, Paul calls jealousy an act of the “flesh.” However, for God, jealousy is not marred by sin. It is his perfect desire for us to be his people and for him to be our God. He is God, and there is no other. Our search for other gods leads us to emptiness. God wants us to be filled with him. He passionately loves us. Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 4:24, “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”
God, whose name is Jealous, loves you so much that he sent his Son to die for you on the cross. He yearns for you to know him and love him. God desires for you to find your significance and security in him. He wants you to know that he accepts you for who you are and desires to forgive and empower you with his Spirit. It is time to get rid of any other gods in your life. The Lord God is a jealous God. He is El Kanna.
Lord God,
Show me anything or anyone in my life that I hold as a god. Show me any habit, possession, or person I place before you. Help me to serve you and you alone. Help my love burn passionately for you just as your love burns passionately for me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
I’m thankful He is jealous. I was expecting to hear you explain that calling our God, “jealous”, was an anthropopathism. 😊 That’s a great descriptive word.