Normally when we hear the words jealous or jealousy the connotation is quite negative. The Bible clearly tells us that having a jealous heart or thought towards another person is a sin. But what are we to make of the fact that the Bible says that God is a jealous God. Since God is perfect and never sins obviously when the Scriptures refer to God as being jealous it must mean something else.
For example, (Deuteronomy 4:23-24) tells us: “So be careful yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”
Not only that but this jealousy in the Old Testament came with strict commands about what to do with other gods when confronted with them, for we read: “But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice.”(Exodus 34:13-15).
Notice also that in the above verses from Exodus we read that worship is to be given to only the one true God and no one else. Skeptics claim that what kind of God would be so jealous as to demand worship of only Himself. The problem with these skeptics is that they have the wrong view of relationships. Let me explain.
First, certain relationships actually to function well demand jealousy. Look at it this way you should be jealous for your relationship with your wife. Your relationship with her is unique and singular and intimacy with her is not meant to be shared with others – only with her. And that’s the way God views His relationship with us. He wants an exclusive relationship with you. And exclusivity means we can only serve one God; and not share our love with any other gods or idols.
And second, when it comes to worship we need to understand that our relationship with God is even more special than our relationship with our spouse. And we also need to fight the temptation to treat God as if He is our equal for clearly He is not. Since God has no needs and lacks nothing the question some may ask is why He expects us to worship Him. I like what Al Serrato shares here: “He has every right to expect worship from his creation, because praise and worship are what perfection merit. Equally, he knows the harm it does us when we worship a lie as opposed to the truth. It is, then, an expression of love for him to desire that we return to right relationship with him.”1 God is the Creator of the universe as well as you and me and as the Creator merits worship. Again, Al Serrato, adds insight here: “What does a perfect being deserve? Simply this: to be recognized accurately for what he is. And when we do that, we see that worship and praise are the appropriate way of responding to Him.”2
As Christians we are God’s precious children and God delights to lavish us with His amazing love. Again, this type of relationship can only stay special if we give God our whole heart. If we are sharing our heart with other idols like money, fame, sex, and the host of other things that vie for our attention, then our devotion to God becomes diluted and half-hearted.
My friends since God is a perfect being, since He is the Master potter, and because He cherishes having a relationship with us, that will last for eternity, how can we not stand in complete awe of Him for who He is and what He has done for us. I don’t know about you but this type of God is indeed worthy of worship and I thank Him for the wonderful privilege of knowing that He is indeed jealous for His relationship with me!