God is a loving God, but He is also jealous and wrathful. This daily devotional looks at what makes God jealous and wrathful and how we can reconcile with Him.
Nuggets
- We are to worship only God.
- God wants us to focus on Him rather than forming alliances with worldview people.
- God is jealous when we divide our loyalties between Him and money.
- Because God is a jealous God, He will one day pass judgment on us when He “… pour[s] out [His] wrath …” (Zeph. 3: 8 NIV).
- God’s wrath will abate when we ask for forgiveness of our sins.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Finding Our Center series
Okay, we are going to jump back into our Finding Our Center series. In the first batch, we looked at attributes that I thought were specific to Sovereign God: His sovereignty, eternal, unchangeable aspects, to name a few.
In this batch, we are going to look at attributes that we can imitate. I keep going back and forth as to how I am going to divide these. So, stay tuned.
Devotions in the Finding Our Center series
Attributes of God: Jealous and Wrathful
Attributes of God: Glorious and Beautiful
Attributes of God: Holy and Perfect
Attributes of God: Right
Attributes of God: True
Attributes of God: Loving
Attributes of God: Gracious and Compassionate
Attributes of God: Merciful and Forgiving
Attributes of God: Providential and Caring
Attributes of God: Good
Attributes of God: Our Refuge
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Let's Put It into Context #2
The Holman Bible Dictionary defines jealousy in this way:
“Jealousy is used in three senses in Scripture; (1) as intolerance of rivalry or unfaithfulness; (2) as a disposition suspicious of rivalry or unfaithfulness; and (3) as hostility towards a rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage.”
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Numbers 1 and 2 pertain more to attributes of God. The extended definition indicated that number 3 is more on the line of envy.
Wrath, according to the Holman Bible Dictionary, is “The emotional response to perceived wrong and injustice …”
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God’s Jealousy Is Documented in the Second Commandment
“Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands” (Ex. 20: 4-6 CSB)
We are to worship only God.
God wants to be the sole recipient of our worship. He does not want us to worship idols. An idol is an object of worship in any form that is below God but takes from God the worship that is His due.
In Old Testament times, idols could be anything from wooden carvings, images, or imageless worship.
Today, we can worship anything from money, prosperity, celebrities, or science. The concept is still the same.
Our idol takes our focus off of God. We use it to explain how things came to be. We try to limit the worship due to God.
Woods cautioned we are not supposed to try to make an image of the One true God. He felt that “… mental images may be framed, provided always that they be fashioned out of the Divine manifestations.”
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Hmmm. Of course I am not finding it right now, but I thought we had a devotion where it said we were not supposed to concoct mental images of God. He is a spirit, so any image we would create would be trying to bring Him down to our level.
Maybe I got that from Boardman. He wrote, “We cmust worship God according to His nature; His nature is spiritual, and, therefore, we must worship Him spiritually — spirit-wise, not image-wise; for only what is spiritual in us can worship what is spiritual above us.”
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I think what it boils down to is what God looks like isn’t what is important. Who God is and what His character is has to be where we keep our focus.
Woods also indicated how jealousy relates to God’s character.
- Truth of His nature
- Character of His people
- Disciples’ influence on the world
Think of it this way. We aren’t going to be a spirit like God until we get our new bodies. So, here in this earth, we have to try to imitate His character. That is the way in which we grow to be like Him.
If we boil this down to its elemental aspect, what we are talking about here is worshiping God the right way. We’ve already said that is why we were created.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
God hates it when we worship Him the wrong way. We just talked about God being adamant that we have to come to salvation His way.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
God also hates it when we don’t worship at all. He hates it when we choose to continue to sin rather than ABCD.
Dale gave us a good description of jealousy. He wrote, “Jealousy is but the anger and pain of injured and insulted love.”
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
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God is love, and He loves us so much. Nothing we do or don’t do diminishes God in any way. God doesn’t want to lose any of our worship.
God Is Jealous When We Form Worldview Alliances
“‘Woe to the obstinate children,’ declares the LORD, ‘to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin’” (Isa. 30: 1 NIV)
God wants us to focus on Him rather than forming alliances with worldview people.
We talked in Isaiah’s Message on God’s Provision that Israel was looking to Egypt to be their savior against the advancing Assyrians. God didn’t want the Israelites to depend on a foreign country.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
God wanted them to depend on Him.
The plan was not for the Israelites to revert back to Egyptian run — and worshiping Egyptian idols. He wanted to show them how He would fight for them.
Reading reminded us that God specifically prohibited Israel from making alliances with Egypt and the surrounding countries. They were also instructed to not make alliances with those they defeated when they took the Promised Land (Ex. 23: 32-33).
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God decreed this because He knew that the Israelites would be pulled away from worshiping Him. Like we said, He didn’t want them worshiping other gods.
God Is Jealous Leads to Wrath
“Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the LORD. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth” (Zeph. 1: 18 ESV)
God is jealous when we divide our loyalties between Him and money.
Jesus specifically warned us about worshiping money. “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Mt. 6: 24 NIV).
Solomon warned us that money won’t save us on judgment day. “Riches won’t help on the day of judgment, but right living can save you from death” (Prov. 11: 4 NLT).
These verses specifically talk about money, but we can easily substitute other masters into the mix — jobs, significant others …
Jay said that we are going to have some master. Cooper felt that if we had more than one master, we would have divided loyalties.
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God is going to be a jealous God because He created us. He designed the Plan of Salvation to restore our relationships with Him. Our choosing to give our allegiance to someone or something else will not sit well with Him.
Good brought up a good point. He wrote, “Consider the relative character of the service. One your life and joy, the other servitude and death.”
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Adey contributed to our discussion by saying that, when we worship God, we acknowledge He is Omnipotent. It also shows our submission.
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We have to remember that, when God is jealous, He may lead with His wrath. We will deserve the punishment if we are not obeying Him.
Glossary
God Will Judge Us Because of His Wrath
“‘Therefore wait for me,’ declares the LORD, ‘for the day I will stand up to testify. I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them — all my fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger’” (Zeph. 3: 8 NIV)
Because God is a jealous God, He will one day pass judgment on us when He “… pour[s] out [His] wrath …” (Zeph. 3: 8 NIV).
Judgment will be used to purge this world from the sin that enslaves it. That will restore it to its previous state.
Making the Connections
“Then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn away from you; I will be calm and no longer angry” (Ezek. 16: 42 NIV)
God’s wrath will abate when we ask for forgiveness of our sins.
We can miss His wrath. We have to ABCD and then live for Him.
How Do We Apply This?
I was wondering how we would apply this to us. This is all about our worship of Him.
God wants us to be committed to Him. That means we have to be strong in our obedience to His laws and commandments.
Senior made a good observation. God will tell us how He wants us to perceive Him. We had a whole series on discerning His voice. We need to listen.
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Devotions in the How to Discern the Voice of God series
- We need to make sure we follow only God.
- We need to make sure we humbly approach God.
- We should do periodic checks to ensure we are following God.
- When we do please God, we shouldn’t get a big head.
- We should present God truthfully to others.
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Ouch. These attributes are the first that we would consider negative attributes. But that is only because He holds us accountable for our sins.
We need to follow closely to God’s Will.
Father God. We praise You for Your love. Lord, we are sorry that we so often turn Your jealously into Your wrath. Help us to live for You. Amen.
What do you think?
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