Your God is a Jealous God [Deuteronomy 5]


1Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully.  2"The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3"The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today.

 4"The LORD spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire, 5while I was standing between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said, 6'I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 7'You shall have no other gods before Me. 8'You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 9'You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 10but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

 

Why is God a jealous God?  This passage explains this part of His character that I have not easily understood.  The key is that He had a covenant with His people.  He brought them out of slavery to be their God.  As Jesus reminds us in the New Testament - you cannot serve two masters.  If you are worshiping something other than God, you cannot worship Him at the same time.  He lovingly desires to have that intimate relationship with us, where He is giving Himself fully to us and we are giving ourselves fully to Him.

 

What things are you giving yourself to?  What things take priority in your life and keep you from giving yourself fully to God?  Lets repent of those things and agree with God that we should not "worship them or serve them."  Those idols can be "good" things like family, friends, dreams, jobs, clean houses, the computer,  Facebook, nice cars or even ministry.  We can actually take the very things that God has provided for us and give our full attention to those things, forgetting God in the midst of them.  Ask Him to show you what they are.

 

Father, we praise You that You jealously guard our relationship with You.  Thank You for being a loving God who keeps Your covenant with us.  Thank You for the new covenant of grace that is ours through Jesus. Cause us to recognize the things that keep us from giving ourselves fully to You and lay them at the foot of the cross.

Verna McCrillis, 8/27/2010