For they provoked Him to anger with their high places,
And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images.
Psalm 78:58 NKJV
Have you ever wondered why jealousy is sinful, but God is a jealous God? That’s a tough one to figure out because God cannot sin. Today, Iva helped me understand this mystery better.
We were at my doctor’s office. When the nurse called my name, we all stood up; Timmy, Iva, and me. Since the long hallway of exam rooms resembled a maze, I dropped Iva’s harness and held her leash in order to allow my husband to guide me. Dropping the leash conveys to Iva that she isn’t guiding, but she is simply heeling. I could sense Iva’s disapproval as she tried to take the lead. The nurse led us into the exam room, and Timmy escorted me to the chair. Before he could show me the seat, Iva stepped up on the foot rest and laid her nose on the chair. This is the way she always shows me a chair.
Then she quickly turned her head toward Timmy, glaring at him as if to say, “This is my job, and no one shows Mom a chair but me!”
Later on, I meditated on Iva’s actions and how I could relate it to God. We had laughed about Iva’s jealousy, and then it hit me. God has godly jealousy when we depend on someone other than Him.
God wants you and me to bring our troubles to Him. not our best friend, not our sister, nor our mother. He wants to be our problem-solver. He wants us to seek answers from Him first, not fourth or fifth.
God also doesn’t want us relying on our resources instead of Him. A nest-egg or a paycheck can be removed from us when we begin trusting in those resources rather than our heavenly Father.
Finally, God abhors idols. In the Old Testament, Israel and Judah built high places to worship their false gods. We may not have carved images or a golden calf, but we have idols all around us. Anything that takes priority over God in our lives is an idol. It can even be our family, our kids, hobbies, food, shopping, materialism, our careers, our wardrobes, our bank accounts, or our recreation. Any of these things can move into first place before we realize what we have done.
This is why God’s jealousy isn’t sinful. We are sinful when we become self-reliant. We sin when we depend on someone besides Him. We sin when someone or something takes His rightful place. We are sinful when He gets the left-overs of our day instead of the first portion.
Iva was adorable when she got a case of the green-eyed monster, but we never want to provoke God to jealousy like Israel and Judah did. Let’s commit to put God first in all we do.
Coming October 2020!! The first book in the Guide Dog Tales series… if you liked today’s post, you will love this new devotional as you peer into the ttraining involved with a guide dog team, and you will learn about God as you read.
Originally posted on March 6, 2020 @ 3:00 am