I remember reading this in earlier years, about the Lord being jealous and wondering... "How can God be jealous. Isn't jealously a sin?"
But there is good godly jealousy, for God and for us!
The Bible says, "Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain." Zech. 8:2-3
I love that part about Jerusalem being a city of TRUTH! :-)
But back to that jealousy thing. 2 Cor. 11:2 shares a nice parallel verse that says, "For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”
This is what helps me make sense of God's jealousy....
You see, God is our creator and Lord, and deserves our total allegiance and affection. He has exclusive rights over us—rights that He will not share with another. Just like when we get married and our spouse is jealous for our exclusive affection, God says, “You are mine! I will not share you with other lovers or with other gods! I will fight for you because I love you.” And that’s what we see happening all throughout the Bible, especially the Old Testament. God is fighting for His love, for the bride of Christ. Rather than making us run away, that should make us want to run to Him.
As a woman, I know how wonderful it feels when it seems a man is willing to fight for me, when he’s jealous to win and hold my exclusive affections. But how does he fight? With force? No! You can’t force affections. You win affections, you win allegiance by love, by unselfish sacrifice, by demonstrating that you are willing to lay down your life for the person you love. And this is so eye-opening for me in our relationship with Christ. He emptied all heaven to demonstrate His love. He paid an infinite sacrifice (we can’t even begin to comprehend) to show us His love. So He has every right to be jealous.
In fact, the degree of His holy jealousy shows the degree of His holy love; the greater the love, the greater the anger when that love is violated.
So we can be thankful God is jealous. He loves us, and He's fighting for us... just like a good man will fight for His bride. He doesn’t want to share us with other lovers! PTL! I like having a jealous husband.
Tomorrow's Reading: Zech. 9-10 and Psalm 148
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