The Righteous Jealousy of God
“You must not worship or serve any idol, because I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. If you hate me, I will punish your children, and even your grandchildren and great grandchildren.” - Exodus 20:5
God is a jealous God. He does not want anything or anyone to get the glory or worship that He deserves. Exodus 20:5 is one of the Ten Commandments and mentions how God feels if people worship or serve anything else but Him. If we do, then we are making it an idol which makes God mad. He will punish people if they do. God can be jealous when it comes to people worshipping other objects or people since He is God and He does what He pleases (Psalm 115:3).
God created the world and everything on it, therefore, everything belongs to Him (Colossians 1:16). He created the Ten Commandments for people to follow and Exodus 20:5 is one of them. We must try to obey this command and not to worship, serve or make anything a god but Him. It will make Him jealous and mad, and He promises to punish anyone who breaks this commandment.
Jealousy that comes from a human can turn into an evil feeling that could result in saying or doing something harmful to someone. But the jealousy God feels is righteous. He has the right to be jealous when people worship or turn to other gods instead of Him. False gods cannot do what God can do. They have no power to do anything like God does, they only provide people with false hope of doing what God can do. Why do we turn away from God to idols if only God has the power to do the impossible?
Prayer of the day:
Dear heavenly Father,
Please help us to understand that Your jealousy is a righteous kind of jealousy, and You have a good reason for it. Only You, oh Lord, have the power to do the impossible and not the idols that we make. Our jealousy can be dangerous because it comes from our sinful hearts, and we want what we want even though it can hurt others. We need Your help to help us to control our jealousy. It can get in the way of our service to You. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!
