Did you know that God is Jealous for you? Yes, you! In this post, you will learn why He is jealous for you, what you can do about it, and how jealousy affects your contentment.
God is Jealous for You: God’s Jealousy- What does that mean?
In the Ten Commandments that God gave Israel, He specifically states that we should not have other gods before Him and that we should not make idols. This is so important to God that this is the only commandment that is stated in two separate commands.
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Exodus 20:3-4 ESV
We should not have idols of any kind. Why? Because God is jealous.
You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.
Exodus 20:5a ESV
God is not jealous all the time. He is moved to jealousy when people replace Him with idols.
For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
Psalm 78:58 ESV
Why is God Jealous for You?
But why is He jealous? Isn’t jealousy bad? Yes, it is when we choose to want others or things more than God himself.
God’s jealously is driven by His love for us. He loves us so much and wants our whole hearts. He doesn’t want to share us with anyone or anything else.
God likens our relationship with Him as a woman is to a husband. Or the church being a bridegroom to Christ. Or in this passage, Paul’s love for the believer’s in Corinth.
For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ
2 Corinthians 11:2 ESV
God ‘s Jealousy: What can I do about it?
In the Ten Commandments, this verse is tucked in with the second commandment about God’s jealousy in Exodus.
But showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Exodus 20:6 ESV
We need to give God all of our love and obey His commands. In Song of Solomon, we read about the woman who is asking her Beloved to be wholly committed to her.
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.
Song of Solomon 8:6 ESV
There are many views in history on this book and whether it is meant to be a love story or an allegory of the relationship between God and a believer (see David Guzik’s commentary on Song of Solomon, BlueLetterBible.org).
I agree with Guzik that it makes sense to have this be primarily a love story between a man and a woman. And the secondary story is God using the marriage relationship as a symbol of our relationship with Him.
In this verse, we should have God sealed upon our hearts. That love is strong and reliable. Death is certain for we will all die.
And jealousy is fierce. God expressed this in Ezekiel when He spoke about the judgment against Jerusalem.
They shall know that I am the Lord—that I have spoken in my jealousy—when I spend my fury upon them.
Ezekiel 5:13b ESV
How Jealousy Affects Our Contentment
In how to walk in obedience to God, I talk about when we walk in obedience to God, that helps us find contentment. But if we chose to be rebellious and walk-in disobedience, we will be discontented. Life is hard and we will have benefits removed from us. That thought and other verses are in this post about rebellion and its effects on our contentment.
For those who willingly choose to follow other gods, build idols to them, and sacrifice to them, God is not willing to forgive them.
The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name
Deuteronomy 29:20 ESV
In walking in disobedience to God, it can end badly. Those who choose to walk the other way from God will have a hard life and are affected by those choices for an eternity away from God. God gives them a choice to repent and He has said that “anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21 ESV). If you don’t know God and know about His peace, click the link in the sentence. You can know His peace today!
Those of us who have chosen to walk in God’s ways will have the contentment we desire because God lavishes His steadfast love upon us who are righteous.
He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
Psalm 33:5 ESV
A Personal Example of Jealousy
In my previous job, I experienced jealousy that affected my contentment. I had desired to get ahead and be promoted. I wanted to make a name for myself. The keyword there is –SELF! Throughout the years of being a manager, Others were being promoted and I was not. Jealousy became my friend which kept me from being content. I was seeking promotion for all the wrong reasons.
God is Jealous for You!
Remember- God loves you so much! And He gave us His commandments to keep us for Himself and to protect us from the harm that would come to us by disobeying His ways.
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Resource Library
There are Bible Verse cards and the Bible reading plan for the month in the resource library. All for your taking for stopping by God’s Plan Guided Steps.
