Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
“Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”- Deuteronomy 4:23-24
Insight: God is not jealous of us, He is jealous for us. God has many names in the Bible, but one I was not familiar with until a friend and mentor shared it with me just yesterday was El Qanna. El Qanna means “The Lord is jealous.” It connotes the deep and personal love God has for each of us individually, as a parent loves a child. It is a deep, deep love that is a consuming fire, one that wants what is best for each person, and thus sometimes requires the loving touch of removing idols in our lives that try to replace us putting God first. This is done with the deepest love in mind, although we may originally view it as harsh. It often will make us uncomfortable as things we have come to depend on may need to be uprooted, which can take us out of our comfort zones. God is jealous for us because He wants a deep and personal relationship with us. That is amazing and shockingly beautiful when you truly pause to consider it.
Sometimes when we read scriptures in the Bible, it is helpful to pause and ask ourselves how God is speaking to us through His words. There are many things that we can learn if we stop, reflect and honestly assess how our life is tracking in comparison to what He seeks from us that is revealed in His words. The above scripture from Deuteronomy 4 used to confuse me. I used to think if God is omniscient, (all knowing) omnipotent (all powerful) and omnipresent (everywhere at once) then how can He be jealous of anything or anyone? It took a discussion with more seasoned followers of Christ to explain to me that God isn’t jealous of us, He is jealous for us! He wants us to put all of our hope and trust in Him, and not in other man made idols that will never satisfy and only lead to destruction. In the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:3-4 God spoke to His people about how serious he was about this when He said “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” But as is common in our prideful human condition, many times people would turn their back on the Lord and try to make other idols to substitute for His position of authority in their life. I know I have done this many times. The consequences were always very painful. 2 Kings 17:15(a) gives one of the best descriptions in the Old Testament about what happens when His people turn away from Him and instead serve false idols when it says “They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.” There is no sugar coating that. Following worthless idols leads to us becoming worthless! Ouch, that stings.
I recently asked the Lord to reveal to me any areas of my life where I had established idols. Some were apparent and some were hidden. In either event, I was glad He revealed them to me so I could repent. They included things like lust, my career, money, my way of thinking, covetousness and others. We should ask this question of God quite often so we can more easily eradicate anything that we’re setting up as an idol in our lives before it can take root and become destructive. It is much easier to deal with earlier rather than later. I have learned this lesson the hard way quite recently. Yes God is an all-consuming fire, ( Hebrews 12:29 ) but it is for our benefit. He wants us to trust in Him alone so He can best guide us along our path to the Promised Land He desires for us.
Prayer: Father God, thank you that you love us so much that you are jealous for us, and not of us. How amazing it is to consider that you care so much. Help us to ask you to identify any idols we have allowed to be created in our lives and to give us the strength and wisdom to remove them. For they are nothing more than worthless idols compared to knowing You and your great love.. If we don’t remove them we too will become worthless. Thank you God for your help and your compassion in dealing with these things we have allowed to manifest in our lives. There is nothing that can compare to knowing you. Amen!
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