Our God is a Jealous God

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.” Exodus 20:4-5

Sometimes ago, I uploaded a picture of a friend on one of my social media handle and I left it for almost twenty-four hours which is unlike me. When my best friend saw that I did not delete the picture like I would have done for some other pictures, she got jealous and started complaining about how I left another girl’s picture for close to twenty-four hours instead of her own picture. Obviously she got jealous because she thought someone has taken her place in my heart until I explained how I was so busy that day that I had no time to check my phone.

As hilarious as that may seem, it is the exact way God feels whenever we shift our focus from him to other gods or things. It might not necessarily be an idol, but anything you cherish and give attention to more than God will definitely give a signal that you are gradually shifting from the Lord’s side.

There are some characters in the bible who despite their though situation, refused to bow to any other god beside God. I particularly like the story of the three Hebrews; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. These three men refused to bow to the god that king Nebuchadnezzar ordered them to worship. They told the king that even if God will not save them, no matter what, they will not bow to that god. They refused to bow to the small god and held onto their faith in God because they are fully aware that the God they serve is a jealous God, and once they bow to that small god, they will create an enmity between themselves and God. In the end, their love for God saved them and the furnace prepared by the king caused them no harm because God was with them in the fire.

Our God is a jealous God and he does not want to be shared with anything or anyone and his place should be reserved for him always without placing anything or anyone above him. Despite the order in Babylon during the reign of king Darius that nobody should serve any other God beside the king for thirty days, Daniel, a faithful servant of God did not stop going on his knees three times daily to serve the Lord his God. Daniel knew the worth of his relationship with God and never tried anything that could make God angry. Daniel refused to leave God for any other creature. In the end, the lions in the den became Daniel’s pillow and watched over him instead of tearing him and those who ganged up against Daniel were thrown into the den with their family.

God never jokes with his supremacy and throne. When the children of Israel forgot how God delivered them from Pharaoh and how he got them out of Egypt and chose to make images for themselves with their gold so they could worship it. God became so furious at them. He plagued them and called them stiff-necked people.

There are many things you will want to have, lots of things you want to try out because your friends said it is not bad but to God, it is you singing a goodbye song to him. Are clothes competing with God in your life? It can even be any other thing aside cloth. It can be jewelry, cars and other non-material things that constantly take away your attention from God. Stop or reduce your focus on those things and focus more on God. 

There was a time I needed to get a project done but it became difficult because of financial constraints. Every day, I pray to God to help me with it and when someone discovered that I was trying so hard to get it done, the person decided to help me with part of the expenses. I was so glad that I found someone to help me at last but unconsciously, I shifted my gaze from the one I have always been asking for help (God), and every morning, I focus my prayer point on the person, thanking him from time to time for helping until I realized that I never appreciated God who directed an helper to me and instead of discussing with God first about the next step to take, I started doing everything on my own because I was so much happy that I wanted everything to fall into place quickly. However, instead of completing the project quickly, I kept on perambulating. But as soon as I realized what I have been doing, I went back to my source of blessing (God), and that was when I gained clarity on what I was supposed to do to get a quick result.

Do not allow anything to change your focus and love for God. Nothing should share God’s space in your heart. Because the children of Israel constantly deviate from God’s love for them and chose disobedience and complaints instead of gratitude and total faithfulness to God, their journey in the wilderness lengthened by folds.

As a faithful husband will never want his wife to be shared with anyone, God as the first love of the church does not want to be shared with any other god. He wants your heart to be for him alone, he wants to be the only one you seek opinions from. God wants to be the first person you share your worries with. God wants to be the first person you talk to everyday and the last person you talk to before you go to bed. He has everything you need and everything you will need.

God is a jealous God but he is the sweetest friend everybody should have.