The book of Deuteronomy 6:15 says that “For the Lord your God, who lives among you, is a jealous God.” The scripture means that God is envious about what people do, especially if they are not doing them for the glory of God. It also means that not everything that people do is pleasing in God’s eyes, and He rebukes some of the activities human beings engage in.
Idleman talks extensively about the jealous God. Just to reflect on a jealous God, she says that everything in the universe belongs to God and nothing can be compared to His powers. She says that God is jealous of people’s hearts, not because he hates them but due to the unconditional love he has for his people. However, people are provided with the living water but they still want the substitutes, and this makes them to make wrong decisions. The scripture of John 3:16 reminds people that God loves people so much that he made a choice between them and his only son, because he wanted to save them from sins. Therefore, he gets jealous when he sees people worshipping other Gods because he loves us so much not to hurt us. Again, in Ezekiel 20:7, people are reminded to get rid of vile images because God gets jealous anytime he sees people worshipping them, and it’s the love that He has for people that he saved the Israelites from slavery. Joshua gives the Israelites options on who to worship; but he chose to worship God alone. In life, there are many things that people can opt to worship, but Idleman reminds us that God is so powerful and he is the only one to worship (Idleman, 2013).
My thoughts have changed after this reading. This is because, I had a feeling that the Bible says God is jealous because he was the one that created heaven and earth. He also created everything that we see, including ourselves. Therefore, I thought he was jealous when he sees people worshipping what he created, but I have realized that he gets jealous due to the love he has for his people (Idleman, 2013).
References
Idleman, K. (2013). Gods at War: Defeating the Idols that Battle for Your Heart. Harper Collins.
