Jealous for God

Joel 2:18 Then the Lord was jealous for his land and took pity on his people.

God is a jealous God, in fact one of his names is Jealous. Exodus 34:14 "Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." But what does that mean? Normally we associate jealousy with sin and rightfully so, because we normally have a destructive jealousy. A jealousy that makes us ungrateful for what we have, and a jealousy that makes us angry and vengeful when what we have is threatened. But godly jealousy is different, its a desire to protect that which is good. God desires to have a relationship with us. Jeremiah 29:13 "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." He desires to live with us. Ezekiel 37:27 "My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people." That relationship with God is something that is good for us and something that we need. Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." We are incomplete without it. John 10:10 "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Without God life is meaningless. Ecclesiastes 1:14 "I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind." An aimless wandering for meaning and happiness. Ecclesiastes 5:7 "Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore fear God." God knows this. He also loves us and cares for us, as a parent for their child. So when something threatens our relationship with him it angers him. He desires to protect our relationship with him. He will remind us who he is in order to protect that relationship. Sometimes he does this by giving us plenty as mentioned in Joel 2:18-27. Other times he will discipline us in order to turn us back to him if we have turned away after sin. Deuteronomy 6:14-15 "Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land."

I would like to suggest that we develop our own jealousy for our walk with God. Because it is something worth protecting. Lets protect it with a radical jealousy. Protect your time with God in the morning. Treat your time in the scriptures and your time in prayer as valuable and as the necessities they are. Matthew 4:4 Jesus answered, "It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’" Psalm 32:6 "Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them." Consider sin and temptation as threats to your most valuable relationship. Proverbs 15:29 "The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous." Proverbs 28:9 "If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction, even their prayers are detestable." Psalm 66:17-18 "I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue.18 If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." This will bring a strong motivation to resist temptation and to confess and repent of sin. Be willing to remove anything from your life that causes you to sin, because it is a threat to what you treasure most. Mark 9:45 "And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell." Don't let anything take God's place as first in our lives. It is a snare to seek our own desires before God. James 4:3-10 "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." This world and all that is in it is temporary. It is all passing away. Our relationship with God is the one of the only things we have here that will transcend to the next life. Nothing therefore, should come before it. John 2:15-17 "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever." It would be a shame to let lesser things, like TV, internet, radio, hobbies, work, or even friendships and family take away from, supersede, weaken, or interfere with our walk with God. The next thing that God wants to show you in his word is far more important than the next episode on Netflix. Time spent with God in prayer is more valuable than any pursuit or relationship in this world. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 "What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; 30 those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away." Not that our family and friends are not important, but they cannot take God's place as first in our lives. Matthew 10:37 "Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." Guard your walk with God with a godly jealousy.