To Encourage You

Psalm 48:14 “This is God, our God forever and ever.”

The Bible tells us that God is a jealous God. In fact, one of His names is Jealous (Exodus 34:14).  Doesn’t that seem strange? 

Usually, we think of jealousy in a negative sense.  One of the dictionary definitions of this word is “feeling or showing envy of someone or their achievements and advantages.”  And in that sense, it is not a good thing.  Being jealous of others can poison our attitude toward them.  It can motivate us to do and say to others or in reference to them things that are very destructive.  But there’s another type of jealousy that is not negative. It’s an expression of commitment and a longing for love that is extremely exclusive. It’s a jealousy for someone else, rather than of someone else. I think that’s the sense of the jealousy of our awesome and infinite God.

We see this in the context in which God speaks of His jealousy.   He has told us that “you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14). In other words, He wants us all for Himself. He doesn’t want us to share our love for Him with a love for other things. If we do, it’s called spiritual adultery. 

To help us understand this, the Lord speaks of our relationship with Him as that of a groom with a bride. In Ephesians 5:25 husbands are commanded to “love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” I love my wife. I want her to love me. For her to share the kind of love we have for one another with another person would be devastating to me.  I am jealous for her love. When we married, I committed to loving her until death do us part. It is this marital love that is a picture of the love of God for His church.  It’s an exclusive kind of thing. It’s a commitment. And it’s a commitment that is not just until death, but, as the verse above from Psalm 48 tells us, it’s a commitment that will be “forever and ever.” The Bible puts it this way to put an exclamation point on the word “forever.” It’s like God is telling us that He will be faithful to us and love us forever and longer than forever, if there could be such a thing!

Our incredible God is jealous for our love. Are you jealous for His? Is your commitment to Him an exclusive thing? Are you committed to Him forever?  If it is, it is a sign that you truly do know Him and have been transformed by a love that He has placed in your heart. We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), and the love that He has for us is so great that He laid down His life for us.  There’s no greater love in all the universe.  It’s a jealous love. An exclusive love. A love that is committed to us forever and ever.  May God help us to have hearts that are likewise committed to Him.