He is Jealous
For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. -Deuteronomy 4:24
We belong to the Lord. Our worship, service and faithfulness belong to Him and Him alone. When we choose to devote ourselves to something other than God, He becomes the consuming fire as described in Deuteronomy.
When God sees us slipping away to something other than Him, He becomes zealous in His protection of what is rightfully His. God paid the ultimate price for us when He sent His son to die for us on the cross at Cavalry. He literally bought us with the life of Christ. This gave us a new life and second chance, so when He sees us devoting what should be our time with Him to something else entirely, He becomes a raging fire.
He is jealous for us because He loves us so much. God expects and demands exclusive dominion over our hearts, minds, and souls. His love for us is infinite and boundless, He only asks for a fragment in return. Should we ever find ourselves letting our love for God grow quiet, He will grow jealous of what ever it is that is taking His place. Our love is God’s and we should never let something replace Him as our one true Love.
Is there something in your life that is distracting you from God? Are you giving your time or heart to something other than God? Are you freely giving away something that rightfully belongs with the Lord? For us to be anything but totally devoted in worship of Him would be denying God what is rightfully His. Don’t fall into the trap of serving or worshipping something other than God. If you’ve let an activity or person take God’s place in worship, be warned that God simply will not stand for it.
His name is Jealous (Exodus 34:14). Our jealous God is avenging (Nahum 1:2). Should you choose to exalt others before Him, His anger will burn against you and you will be destroyed (Deut. 6:15). God knows the plans He has for us (Jer. 29:11), so He becomes jealous when we devote our love to anything but Him. His love is so great for us, He becomes a raging fire when something takes our attention away from Him. How awesome is it, that the Lord of All Creation loves us this much!
The Lord our God is sovereign. He is the Redeemer, the Life-Giver and the Holy One. His name should be given honor and glory (1 Chron. 16:29). If He gives His glory to no other (Isaiah 42:8), shouldn’t we do the same? Stop making God jealous with those other, foreign gods in your life! (Deut. 32:16)
I encourage you to evaluate your life and where you devote your time and worship. Do you spend most of your days devoted to the things and people of this world? Be wary of a jealous God, for He is a consuming fire! Give worship back to the Lord; for it is rightfully His and His alone.
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he? (1 Corinth. 10:21-22) No, we are not.
God’s jealousy for us is unnerving, awesome, and wonderful. Praise Him, for He is jealous for us.
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