Jealous God

For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.  Deuteronomy 4:24

Our God is a jealous God. This idea has been rattling around inside my head since earlier this summer. Pastor Mike spoke to the youth group about our jealous God.

He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree

Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy

When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions

Eclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful You are

And how great Your affections are for me 

David Crowder - How He Loves Lyrics

I have known that God is a jealous God for a long time – the bible has multiple scriptures and references to the jealousy of God – but I had never really stopped to consider the deeper implications or meaning of God’s jealousy. Jealousy is usually thought of as a negative emotion, wanting or envying something someone else has and wishing it were our own. The other meaning of jealous is something closer to zealous. It is like a man who is jealous for his wife or a mother who is jealous for her children. This is the jealousy God has. A zeal and love for something that is uniquely His. A passion for His own. God is jealous of His name – His majesty, His authority and His holiness – and He commands us to place nothing else before Him. This is also the jealousy God has for us. God is jealous for our undivided attention, love and worship. Just as God jealously protects His name, He also protects us and pulls us closer and closer to Him.

This has been intensifying for me as we have gotten closer to coming on this trip to Kenya.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.                                                                           John 3:16

God wants to have a relationship with every person, everywhere. He made us and He made a way for us to have a relationship with Him. God is an all-consuming fire and He wants all of us to be consumed with Him. The people of our church, the people of our community and the people here in Kenya. Rich people, poor people, people who have much and people who have nothing at all. God wants to be in an all-consuming relationship with everyone. As I have thought more and more about the jealousy of God I have started to see His passion for us – all of us. He is jealous for me, and just as jealous for everyone.

Today we will be travelling to Njorro to work with David and Ann Kinyanjui. David and Ann are passionately caring for the children of Njorro. This will be our first day of ministry. We will spend the next few days working alongside David and Ann to feed, teach and love the children they minister to everyday. I am excited, honored, and humbled to take part in the work God is doing through the Knyanjuis in Njorro.