There are lots of occurrences in the Bible when we get a glimpse into the character and person of God. We learn as we read God’s Word that He loves, is gracious, kind, tender, patient, and forgiving. We learn that He sent His one and only Son to save the world. We learn that He is desirous of a people for Himself and has gone to every conceivable measure to reveal His love and good purpose for all of creation. So it’s a rarity to be stopped in our tracks and to have one of those moments when do a double-take because we can’t believe what we are reading and learning about God. Indeed, there are those divine moments when we are surprised to find that God is at times unpredictable, and, as C.S. Lewis once quipped, ‘untamed.’ One of those occurrences strikes us in Deuteronomy 4:24. “The Lord your God is a devouring fire; he is a jealous God.”
Before we go any further take a moment to read all of Deuteronomy chapter 4. If you have the luxury of some elbow room… you could go even further and read portions out of Exodus 2 – Deuteronomy 34.
God is making a people for Himself. As Pastor Joe mentioned, this is a consistent theme threaded throughout all of God’s Word. As we consider this theme and the important role Moses played in it, we need to land on the truth that God is desirous of making a people for Himself because He is love.
The early Church understood the essence of God as being love. Love is not a characteristic of God like it might be for you and for me. Love is God. God is love. All of His relational movements, actions, teachings, commands are rooted in His essence (which is love). As you ponder the essence of God being love, take a moment to assess what you love most. Hopefully your love is rooted in relationship with God and with others (versus material things that are transient and short-lived).
An unmistakable aspect of love in relationship is the important role of jealousy. Jealousy is defined as “… a feeling of being unhappy and upset because you think someone who you love is attracted to someone else.” Now back to Deuteronomy 4:24. “The Lord your God is a devouring fire; he is a jealous God.”
God’s jealousy for His people is rooted in love. It’s the flipside of His essence to love His people with a jealous love. As there is no shadow or hint of sin in God, this kind of jealousy can only be understood as a holy aspect of who God is.
Take a moment to define your understanding of jealousy. How could God’s jealousy be a good thing?
One way to consider God’s love as jealous is to understand that the word used for jealous is the same word used for ‘zealous.’ To be zealous is to be passionate towards another. Now certainly there are the kinds of jealousy that cause us to hurt others and to sin against the Lord. Nevertheless, there is a need for God’s kind of jealousy. Consider this:
Would not an adolescent benefit from the jealous love of a parent if they are being lured into a peer group that’s destructive in its influence?
How might a husband help the marriage relationship if he was zealous for his wife? If he gave intentional thought and loving time to continue to court and show his love for her.
Could the church be a better community of faith if the people of the church jealously guarded the prayerful ministry of the church and the way in which the community of faith invests in the children, the youth, the adults, and the elderly?
When we consider God’s jealous love we are confronted with the kind of love that is passionate for His people. He’s not ok with destructive sin in His people’s lives. He’s not content to see His people chase after the temporary gods of this world that offer nothing but brokenness. God is jealous in the sense that He fully intends to love His people and see them to the place of wholeness and goodness. In other words, God doesn’t walk away from His covenant with His people. He can be trusted and counted on.
Personal and/or small group questions:
In what way/relationship have you experienced a good kind of jealousy? How does this differ in essence from sinful jealousy?
What strikes you about the following statement: God is jealous over you? If you lived into this truth, how might it change the way you relate with God and others?
Loving God means being exclusive in terms of who/what we worship. Are there false gods in your life that you have a tendency to chase after? If so, what are they? Take some time to thoughtfully name them.
Moses asks the following question in Deuteronomy 4:7, “And what great nation has a god as near to them as the Lord our God is near to us whenever we call on him?” How have you experienced the nearness of the living God in your life within the past month?
Take a minute to read James 1:19-27. How does this New Testament section of scripture reflect the truths Moses calls out in Deuteronomy chapter 4? How are love and obedience related in our walk with God?
Scripture Memory Verse: “The Lord your God is a devouring fire; he is a jealous God” (Deut. 4:24, NLT)
