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