Verses for Today
Exodus 20:3 You shall have no other gods before Me.
Exodus 20:4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor the form of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water beneath the earth.
Exodus 20:5a You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them; for I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God,
Exodus 34:14 (For you shall not worship any other god; for Jehovah, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God)
2 Corinthians 11:2 For I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God; for I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
Fellowship
If someone asked you, what kind of God do you have, what would you say? Could you give a faithful testimony of who God is? We all might have testimonies of what God has done for us and this is good. But we want to go further to see God Himself. Let us come to our Lord full of seeking, “Lord Jesus, we love You. We want to know you more. I have a concept of who You are and what You’re like, but I want to see more of You!”.
As an answer to our seeking, God gives us His word. In particular, He gives us the 10 commandments as His testimony. It is here that God Himself tells us that He is a jealous God.
God wants us to love Him and Him alone. If we love someone or something in place of Him, He will be jealous. Thus, the Ten Commandments first reveal God’s jealousy, even His hatred (Rom. 9:13). Jealousy results in hatred. The Bible says not only that God is love, but also that He is jealous. In 2 Corinthians 11:2 Paul refers to the jealousy of God. The ten words, the expression of God, reveal that God is unique. He is a jealous God, and He will not give place to any other god. Do not allow anything else to be your god. Do not take education or wealth as your god. God alone must be your God. (Life Study of Exodus, p 597)
God is jealous over us like the jealousy of a husband over his wife. God cannot tolerate it if our heart is divided or unfaithful. Other gods may rival God in our heart and try to take our heart away from loving God, but it is NOT okay with God if we have other gods. God is like a husband who would not tolerate it if his wife called someone else her husband. (Church in Irvine, Lessons, “God is Jealous”)
When we see that God is such a jealous God, our view of ourselves may change. Previously, if someone asked us, “Do you sin?” “Have you done anything against God?” We might reply, “No”. We might even say, “I’m good.” But by God’s shining in His word, we might now begin to see other things occupying our heart, not necessarily evil things, but things that might be taking a higher position in our heart than the Lord. Here is a practical example of what we are talking about. When called by God to attend the church meetings on the Lord’s day, are there other things that we would rather be doing? Idols are false gods and these are not limited to physical statues. They can be anything in our heart that we love more than God.
May we pray, “Dear Lord, I turn back to You. Forgive me for loving _______ more than You. I do love You. Reveal Yourself more to me. I want to see You more!”