Jealous Eyes

Some things are just too good not to share. Below is an excerpt from Jud Wilhite’s book “Pursued: God’s Divine Obsession With You.”

In Biblical times, a person’s name and its meaning often defined them and foretold the story of their life. The fact that a person had multiple, contradictory names was not considered a problem, only an accurate indication of that person’s complicated identity. So it’s not surprising that we see so many unique and various names from God in the Scriptures. One that may trouble us that most can be found in Exodus 34, where we’re told that God’s name is Jealous.

Jealousy is commonly regarded as negative in our culture and associated with anger, envy, and a possessive, controlling love. The Biblical portrait of jealousy is far different, describing a God whose intense care is devoted to His people. He will accept nothing less than the best for those He loves.

To be jealous in His eyes, then, is to prevent His people from falling into the hands of anything that might divert their lives from Him. As J.I. Packer explains, “God’s jealousy is not a compound of frustration, envy, and spite, as human jealousy so often is, but appears instead as a…praiseworthy zeal to preserve something supremely precious.”

God is zealous to protect and preserve His place in our life. Because He is most highly prized and precious, He is protective of our devotion, not like some deviant stalker who mean harm but as One who wants to jealously guard what is best.

God shows His jealousy by removing the satisfaction things can give, so that we seek satisfaction in Him. He may take away wealth or health or hobbies to shake us up. He may allow whatever we are trusting in ahead of Him to fail us and leave us with nothing but Him. He is jealous of our trust and our company.

Our difficulty with trying to understand the emotional dimensions of God is that we are limited by our own human emotions. Ours may run the gamut and be influenced by our circumstances, medication, personality—even the weather! While God feels what we feel, His emotions never spin out of control.

Our God is not the hapless victim of circumstance. He is never caught unaware, not do His emotions ever go off the rails. There is nothing beyond Him or bigger than Him that would cause Him to suffer. Rather, by relating with His people, He had deliberately made Himself vulnerable. He refuses to protect Himself from the frustration and heartache that such an association might involve. He opens Himself up to rejection and suffering, but also to the joys and delights that cannot be experiences apart from such an interaction. He longs to be loved for who He is and not just what He does for us.