FEBRUARY 2

OUR PERSONAL PROMISES

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Joshua 24:15

“……, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…….  But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Luke 11:23

“He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”

Matthew 6:24

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Isaiah 42:7-8

“To open blind eyes,  To bring out prisoners from the prison,  Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.  I am the Lord, that is My name;   And My glory I will not give to another,   Nor My praise to carved images.”

Exodus 34:13-14

“But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images  (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),”

Deuteronomy 4:24

“For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”

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Our book for this month  is called “100 NAMES OF GOD”  written by Christopher D. Hudson.  Each day we’ll take one Hebrew name for God as given in the Bible to study and relate to.

EL KANNA

JEALOUS GOD

“You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God( EL KANNA) am a jealous God.”  Exodus 20:5

Who wants to be thought of as JEALOUS?  This  unflattering  description brings to mind the petty schoolgirl who bitterly resents the spotlight that a peer is enjoying, or the fact that her rival’s boyfriend is cuter than hers.   In our minds, to be jealous is to be vain, selfish, suspicious.  It is to want what others have, never fully acknowledging or appreciating the good things in one’s own life.

And yet, there is another kind of jealousy – a holy version.  It’s this noble form of jealousy that God has for His people, according to the Bible.  But why is this a fitting jealousy?  Why is God right to want us exclusively for Himself?  Because He made us, and in Christ He purchased us:

1 Corinthians 6:20 and 7:23

 “ For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” and “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.”

Divine jealousy isn’t motivated by greed or selfishness.  God’s holy jealousy is rooted in a desire to protect, provide and bless.  He always and only wants what is best for His chosen ones.  And what can be better than His perfect love?

Instead of imagining the negative and hurtful jealousy displayed by a petty schoolgirl, we need to imagine the protecting and providing jealousy of God.  Picture God more as a loving father who discovers his homeless son sleeping in a filthy gutter.  Imagine how this father might jealously seek to rescue his son.  The father’s goal is to restore his son’s life, not to further punish him.

When God freed the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt, He took them to Mount Sinai.  At the foot of the mountain, God told them they would soon be surrounded by neighbors who were devoted to other gods.  He warned them they would be tempted to turn away and be unfaithful.  Lastly, He assured them He would not stand idly by and allow that to happen.  As a jealous  God, He would fight fervently for their attention and affection.

When God calls Himself JEALOUS,  it is a reminder to us that our worship cannot be divided.  The Great Commandment is to love God with ALL (not part of) our hearts.  He alone is worthy of our devotion.  He alone is deserving of our hearts.  He knows that the ones He loves will find life, ultimate meaning, purpose and joy nowhere else.  He knows that He alone always seeks what is best for us.  He also knows that He alone is the one place where our hearts will find their true home.

This is why when Jesus came, He reminded us that we cannot serve two masters.  He told us that whoever is not for God is against Him.  It is tempting to be “sort of”  “sometimes”, or “mostly” devoted to God.

But we either give ourselves to Him or we give ourselves to other things.  God is jealous for our love because He is zealous for us to know His love.

PRAYER

God,  please drive from my heart anything that captures my attention and affection more than you.  May I not make You jealous today by being unfaithful.  Amen.

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