“God is jealous.” Nahum 1:2
Your Lord is jealous of your love.
Did He choose you? Then He cannot bear that you would choose another.
Did He purchase you with His own blood? He cannot bear that you would live apart from Him, or that you would belong to this world.
He loved you with such a love that meant He would not stay in heaven without you; He would rather die than see you perish, and He cannot bear that anything should stand between your heart’s love and Himself.
He is jealous of your trust. He will not permit you to trust in any mere human being. He weeps, seeing you cradle a broken jug, when His overflowing fountain is always free to you. When we lean upon Him, He is glad, but when we transfer our dependence to another, relying on our own wisdom, or trusting in any works of our own, He is displeased. He will humble us so that He can bring us closer to Himself.
He is also jealous of our company. We should be in conversation with Jesus more than anyone else. True love is living with Him only; but to live primarily for selfish comforts, or to prefer even our fellow Christians to fellowship with Him, this is too pains our jealous Lord.
He urges us stay close to Him, and enjoy constant fellowship with Himself. Many of the trials which He sends us are to wean our hearts from worldly things, and fixing us more closely on Himself. This jealousy, which He intends to keep us near to Christ, can also be a tremendous comfort to us, because if He cares about us and our love so much, we can be sure that He will do nothing to harm us, and will protect us from our enemies. I pray that we will keep our hearts pure for our beloved Lord alone, with sacred jealousy shutting our eyes to all the distractions of the world!
Question: Although God’s jealousy is righteous, our own is often not when we are jealous of how God has chosen to bless others. Have you been jealous of anyone lately?
by Charles H. Spurgeon
Used by Permission
Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer – 2008.
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