11.k. “For he is a holy God. He is a jealous God”

Nahum 1:2  The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers. The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it.

Exodus 20:5    You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

Deuteronomy 4:24    For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Joshua 24:19   But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God;

The Bible clearly teaches that God is a jealous God. Exodus 20:5 states, “You shall not bow down to them [other gods] or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God.” How are we to understand God’s jealousy when the Bible also says that jealousy is a sin (Galatians 5:20)? Isn’t this a contradiction? The key is context. God revealed the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel. He commanded allegiance and worship to Him alone. He would not tolerate the worship of other gods (a practice common in Egypt and other nations). God was “jealous” in the sense that He expected full devotion, not merely a partial, lukewarm commitment. Worship belongs to God, and He is right to be “jealous” of it.  Yes, God is a jealous God. Why? Because He will not share His praise with another: “I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols” . God carefully maintains and protects what is rightly His. This is divine jealousy, and it is worlds apart from the type of sinful jealousy that causes people to envy, suspect, and resent others.

When God was going to describe Himself, on one occasion He called Himself, “Jealous.” This denotes something of God’s nature.  In other translations the word ‘zealous’ is used – these words have the same root, and show God’s character in vigilantly guarding that which is His.  God breathed the breath of life into the first man. He breathed this life into every person. God jealously yearns for – desires – this spirit in us. “Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously’?” God does not want our spirits to be consumed by this world or by the god of this world, who is the devil. God wants a relationship with our human spirit. However, the god of this world, the devil, is active as well. He also wants to get a hold of our human spirit, to influence us to do his will.  He has come to destroy us, and he speaks to our “flesh.” “The flesh Sin is anything that goes against God’s will and His laws. To commit sin is to transgress or disobey these laws. The lust to sin dwells in human nature. In other words, it is contaminated and motivated by want/lust for the worldly and fleshly. It is in this battle God is a jealous God. He is zealous (jealous) for our spirits. He wants us to be zealous, with “God’s zeal” in this battle.  God is “jealous” in the sense that He expected full devotion, not merely a partial, lukewarm commitment.  He wants all of our hearts, minds, soul, and strength given to honor, glorify, praise, worship, follow, obey, trust, and rely on Him.  He is jealous for us to know and serve Him fully.  He is jealous for us to know and experience His precious promises, purpose, grace, mercy, and love.  If we are to be fully devoted and surrendered to Him we can not share any part of our lives seeking after that which is worldly and fleshly, nor can we be lukewarm, complacent, or neglectful.

My flesh trembles

You reject all those who stray from Your statutes, For their deceit is falsehood.”

Psalms 119:120  My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments.

1 Samuel 6:20     Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God?

Hebrews 12:28-29    Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,  for our God is a consuming fire.

Philippians 2:12    Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

Isaiah 66:2    All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

2 Chronicles 34:27     because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants,

2 Chronicles 34:21    “Go, inquire of the LORD for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do according to all that is written in this book.”

The Psalmist considered the righteous judgments of God, he looked to his own life and understood that it was more in the hands of God than the works of man. He used God’s word as a measuring line for viewing thoughts and actions of his own life.  He realized condemning judgements come upon those who reject and stray from His word and the principles revealed in them.  He understood that without a heart, mind, and soul deep desire to seek and know God, longing to please Him, yielding to His leading and directing, humbly serving, and obeying Him – man is prone to desires that are not God honoring.  He knew God’s judgements against man for their neglect and complacent view of His word and application in their life.  He knew that just below the surface of every heart is a desire to serve self first rather than God.

How are we to know God apart from His word?  How much more patience will God have on us for being complacent and neglectful?  How are we to know what pleases God, apart from His word?  How are we to know what displeases God, apart from His word?  Neglecting the His word, that is ever available before us, gives no excuse for not knowing.

The world has a way of distorting our perception of what it means to humbly serve, honor, glorify, follow and obey God.  Through His word we find what is pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God.  We have a choice each day to seek and serve and obey His leading.  I just don’t see how we do this without the continual feeding of our heart, mind and soul with His word. We ought to tremble at the thought of how complacent our lives have become, how much time we neglect thought of Him, how many times we are even listening for that quiet small whisper of leading from Him.

It is only as we tremble before the exalted and holy God that we will ever see the world and its distorted values to be the empty things they are. If we do not tremble before God, the world’s system will seem wonderful to us and consume us pleasantly.” (Boice)