For I, the LORD your God am a jealous God!
The Hebrew name for The LORD is Jealous is Qanna. The word picture in the Hebrew language is of a husband (God) who loves and protects his wife (Israel). He is jealous of anything that keeps her love from Him. It is His desire for her to be “set apart” for Him.
Unfaithfulness is a picture of a divided heart in us! Anything that takes our devotion away from the one who is our Savior, Redeemer and Lord is idolatry. A divided heart! Most of the times when the Bible says God is angry, idolatry is involved.
What might that look like in our lives today? Three things we need to constantly be aware of in life. 1. Time- Do we honor Him in what we do each day? 2. Our possessions- Are the “things” we possess God honoring? 3. Our purpose- We are called and gifted when we receive Christ as our Savior. We have been created with purpose for His Glory.
God is jealous over His people as a mother bird that is protecting her nest.
Many times, in nature we find pictures of God’s attributes. One such picture is of the Killdeer bird. The video is of a mother Killdeer who will do almost anything to protect her eggs, her “seed”. She puffs up to look larger and covers them with her feathers. She will run at you if you get to close. She will fall down like she has a broken wing. She will try to lead you away from her nest.
Killdeer Protecting Her Nest
God is so like that. He tries many times to steer us away from the idols we build. We have His Word to instruct us. We have His Holy Spirit to guide us. He will put roadblocks in our path to get our attention. But we are like Israel! We are disobedient. We build idols in our lives and so many times we don’t even know they are keeping us from a Holy relationship with our Savior and Creator.
He longs to give us the abundant life. He desires a close walk in the garden with Him. But we continue to “prostitute” ourselves to the things of this world. We sell a little of our relationship with Jesus for selfish desires, temporal things that will not last.
Exodus 20:5 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them, for I, the LORD, your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children on the third and fourth generation.”
We can know God by His revelation through the stories in His written Word. We can know Him because we have the Holy Spirit of God who lives in us when we give our heart and life fully to Jesus.
“Yes, God is a Jealous God. He fashioned us in His image, above all else created. He intended that we spend eternity with Him. He sacrificed His Son, in payment for our sins. God’s jealous love is unfailing and unending. “Know that the LORD your God is God, the trusted God who faithfully keeps his covenant to the thousandth generation of those who love him and obey his commands” (Deuteronomy 7:9).” https://www.allaboutgod.com/a-jealous-god.htm
Jesus Give Us Clean Hands
Give Us Clean Hands by Chris Tomlin
