The idols of the Heart and the Jealousy of God

"For you shall worship no other God, for the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God" (Exodus 34:14)

This past Friday at Care Group, my friend Laura made a statement that really has been hounding me, and one that I had forgotten up till then. What she said was simple: "the Lord is a jealous God." It caught my attention because recently I had a plan completely crushed by the Lord, and it has left me feeling discouraged and in pain. I've been thinking a great deal about God's dealings with his people in the old testament, how they would quickly run to build idols and run to them for security, solace, deliverance, ect. Pastor Tullian Tchividjian, in his book "Surprised by Grace", has this to say about idols:

Idolatry is centering our attention and affection on something, or someone, smaller than God. In fact, most idols are good things in our lives that we turn into ultimate things, things that take God's place as we unconsciously depend on them to give our lives meaning and security.1

When my plans came crumbling down, I spent the vast majority of my time feeling completely destroyed. Looking back on the last couple of weeks, I can see that this plan had really gotten a hold of my heart. I was looking to find fullfillment and peace in this thing working out. Was God being cruel when he closed this door? Was he being a malignant bully trying to rob me of happiness? Absolutely NOT!!

When the bible speaks of God being a jealous God, it means that his love for us is so strong that he will do anything and everything to keep us from giving ourselves to things that were never meant to satisfy or fulfill us. Anything that threatens the good of his bride, will be opposed. When we run to idols, we are playing the whore, committing adultery against a powerful and merciful king, who is not reacting from fear or weakness, but from a "holy indignation at having his honor, power, and mercy scorned by a fickle spouse." (John Piper)2 I don't think I'll ever wrap my mind around the fact that the same God who DOES NOT need us (Acts 17:24-25) is the same God who is passionately jealous for us and desires that we enjoy him, "the fountain of living water". The God who recklessly pursues ungrateful fugitives deserving of wrath and condemnation.

What God's been showing me, is that my reaction indicates that I had been putting way too much hope in this thing (which was a good thing), in essence I was worshipping, and the pain of the loss was indicative that I had held on to it more than God. When God was wrecking my hands open, as painful as that was, he was actually acting in love, out of jealousy. Is there anything that you are treasuring, finding security in, hoping in, more than God? He will do anything to keep you, submit your desires and plans to him. Don't cling, give them up and trust that he is good, and that HE will be enough for you, in the here, now, and forever.

1 Tullian Tchividjian, Surprised by Grace, p. 101

2 John Piper, "The Lord Whose Name is Jealous" www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/the-lord-whose-name-is-jealous

When God Denies Us Things

I think it's safe to say many Christians have felt the sting of something being denied them. You have a legitmately good desire and it seems God has said no and shut the door on it. In those moments I tend to think something like, "This doesn't feel like good God. what the heck!?" You can be tempted to doubt God's goodness when things don't work out like you want. But, as I've had to remind myself recently, there is a vast chasm between what I think is good and what God says is good for me.

John Piper gave an illustration once about how his son, when he was younger, wanted a cracker from the cupboard. When Piper went to the cupboard he saw that the whole box had gotten moldy and needed to be thrown out and so instead he gave him something else to snack on. He recalled how in giving his son something different, he had a real hard time explaining to his child that the cracker was bad for him and the other treat was better. The child was unable to understand that the cracker wasn't good for him at all. Aren't we the same way? We see God denying certain things and we are so convinced that he is being cruel and sadistic. We think we know what the good is and if it's denied us, we pout. The truth of the matter is that God is protecting us from harm. He loves us too much to give us what we want--if it's no good.

In Matthew 7, Jesus pointed us to how God displays His goodness through His gifts: "[W]hich one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" (9-11) Applying Jesus' teaching to our situation, we should note that it is perfectly legitimate to have desires. We should make sure that they are in keeping with the Bible's teaching, but desires are natural and can even lead us to growth in Christ. But we should never assume that what we think is "good" is what God thinks is best for us. Just like Piper's child, I don't see things as I should, I am so convinced that the fuzzed, infested cracker is good, and in frustration I ask, "If my Father was so good, wouldn't He give this to me?"

Given my fallen state, I should hold every desire with the knowledge that my perception of what is good is tainted. Desiring to have what we perceive as being good is what got Adam and Eve in trouble in the first place. To avoid their mistake--empowered by the Gospel, I need to trust that God is a good father, who really does know what's best for me; and if he denies me something in the moment he's protecting me from harm.

So maybe you are struggling with being denied something--the job you wanted, the raise, the promotion, a relationship, whatever. But in your struggles, don't ignore the central truths of what we know about God. See, when it comes down to it, the struggle has less to do with the particular issue at hand and much more to do with the crucial question: Are you going to choose to believe that God is your Father and He is perfect in wisdom and wont deny you ANY good thing?

There comes a point when we need to stop gazing after the thing denied and turn our hearts toward the Father who is the very essence of goodness Himself. Look how lavishly he displays His love in the Gospel: He gave up His only perfect Son for you. Do you really think that He would hand you a stone today?

"Give to the Winds Thy Fears"

Came across this poem by a man named Paul Gerhardt about our nights turning to day

Give to the winds thy fears,

Hope and be undismayed.

God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears,

God shall lift up thy head

Through waves and clouds and storms,

He gently clears thy way;

Wait thou His time; so shall this night

Soon end in joyous day.

Far, far above thy thought,

His counsel shall appear,

when fully He the work hath wrought,

That caused thy needless fear.

Leave to His sovereign sway

To choose and to command;

So shalt thou, wondering, own that way,

How wise, how strong this hand

"give to the Winds Thy Fears" (1656) Paul Gerhardt

Small Faith?

Do you ever feel down because of the size of your faith? I can get pretty discouraged by my lack of faith, it seems like it'll never grow it's so small. This quote from Spurgeon really helped me, it is very dangerous to live by how we feel.

"I often hear this from young beginners in the divine life, "I was so happy a month ago, but I have lost that happiness now." Perhaps tomorrow, after they have been at the house of God, they will be as cheerful as possible, but the next day their joy is gone. Beware, my dear Christian friends, of living by feeling. John Bunyan puts down Mr. Live-by-feeling as one of the worst enemies of the town of Mansoul. I think he said he was hanged. I am afraid he, somehow or other, escaped from the executioner, for I very commonly meet him; and there is no villain that hates the souls of men and causes more sorrow to the people of God than this Mr. Live-by-feeling. He that lives by feeling will be happy today, and unhappy tomorrow; and if our salvation depended upon our feelings, we should be lost one day and saved another, for they are as fickle as the weather, and go up and down like a barometer. We live by faith, and if that faith be weak, bless God that weak faith is faith, and that weak faith is true faith. If thou believest in Christ Jesus, though thy faith be as a grain of mustard seed, it will save thee, and it will, by-and-bye, grow into something stronger. A diamond is a diamond, and the smallest scrap of it is of the same nature as the Koh-i-noor, and he that hath but little faith hath faith for all that; and it is not great faith that is essential to salvation, but faith that links the soul to Christ; and that soul is, therefore, saved. Instead of mourning so much that thy faith is not strong, bless God that thou hast any faith at all, for if he sees that thou despisest the faith he has given thee, it may be long before he gives thee more. Prize that little, and when he sees that thou art so glad and thankful for that little, then will he multiply it and increase it, and thy faith shall mount even to the full assurance of faith