God is….Jealous

There are eleven uses of the word Jealous and 8 of them are in reference to God being jealous of us worshipping other gods.  Here are three examples.  Give them a read and I share some thoughts on the other side.

Exodus 20:4-6(NKJV)

    “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 

you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 

but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Exodus 34:13-14(NKJV)

But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images 

(for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 

Nahum 1:2(NKJV)

     God is jealous, and the Lord avenges;      The Lord avenges and is furious.     The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries,     And He reserves wrath for His enemies;

OK, some thoughts.

The first thing that comes to mind is why does God even care?  Why is it such a big deal to Him?  In the greater scheme of things we are so insignificant.  Do you care what an ant thinks about anything you do?  In one regard we are like the ants in comparison to God.  So why does He really care if we worship Him or not?

My guess is that the reason it is so important to Him is that He chose us as His people.  He chose us for special treatment and benefits.  God sacrificed for us.  And many rejected Him.  He takes that personally.

As I have written before, God doesn't take a live and let live view of things when people reject Him.  God takes that personally.  At the point that people are given a chance to choose and they reject God they have essentially called God a liar.  In doing so they have declared themselves to be an enemy of God.

Which brings up another point.  "And He reserves wrath for His enemies".  Now you know one of my principals of Bible study is that God and Jesus are always in agreement.  So how do you square God reserving wrath for His enemies with Jesus' admonition to love our enemies?  Is that a contradiction or can you do both at the same time?

My belief is that they are not a contradiction.  At the point that someone has rejected God and made themselves an enemy of God, they chose to face God's wrath.    However God loves them enough that if they apologize and ask God to come back into their lives; God will do so.  However, if they never do so then that is a choice they made to continue to be enemies of God.  They rejected God's love, God didn't withhold it from them. 

That is how I see the difference.  Make sense?