Saturday 30 August 2014

God is a jealous God!

The Lord God is a jealous God and he does not want us to put in place anything that we value more than him! Exodus 20v5 - in the passage where God gave Moses the 10 commandments - says "I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God”; there are similar passages in Exodus 34v14 and Deuteronomy 4v24.

The first of these passages says we are to 'break down the altars, smash the sacred stones’ of anything that does not worship God alone.

I am a Christian and do not have any carved idols or sacred stones, so I can race past such Bible passages without seeing any relevance for me.

But one of the ways in which we see whether we are genuine about loving God is when we seek his guidance. For it is here that we often put in place provisos, limitations and loop-holes. When our prayers take the form:
  • “Lord, if you will do this for me, then I will do that for you" - then we set up a proviso
  • “Lord, I will happily do this for you, but I couldn’t do that” - then we put in place a limitation
  • “Lord, please let me know what you want me to do, and I will do it if I can” - then we leave ourselves a loop-hole.
And by so doing we are revealing those things that we value more than God; in effect, they are false gods!

We are very good at setting limits on what we will allow God to do! Sometimes we are directly disobedient, and will not obey what we know is right, but much more often we simply and subtly put in place provisos, limitations, or loop-holes in what we are prepared to do for God. Frequently these sound very good, even ‘Christian’, and much less blatant than the examples above.

For example, I am fairly new working in my current work place, which is a mission counselling centre, and am about to take a leadership role there. So, here are some of the things that I want for this job:
  • I want our centre to be successful in supporting people who are going through difficult times
  • I want our centre to be an example of what good missionary care looks like
  • I want us to contribute to the mission of supporting those who are in the front line of sharing the gospel to those who have not yet heard
  • And I want to be a good team leader

These are some of the things I care about - and there is nothing wrong with them. Except that God is a jealous God, and He is not really interested in my ideas, but He is interested in whether I am open and obedient to His plans!

If I am just concerned about what I want, it leads me to praying like this:
  • Lord, please help us to be successful in supporting missionaries
  • Lord, please make us an example of what good missionary care looks like
  • Lord, please make me a good team leader
  • etc.

And these prayers all centre around asking God to do my will! I need to tear down these good ideas of mine, these altars in my heart. For God is a jealous God and He will not stand for things that I love more than Him.

Like God testing Abraham by telling him to sacrifice his only son Isaac, God requires us to let go of the very things we love the most.

For it is only when we lay down our good ideas, and the limits we try to place on God, that God will show us His perfect way forward. God will not guide us while we set limits, or if we are just going to consider His leading! Our ideas may be ‘good’, but they are not as good as God’s perfect plan!

God is a jealous God, but He is also utterly loving - His desire is not to thwart us, but to bless us!

When we set limits, we are probably trying to protect ourselves – after all, I am frequently afraid that God will ask me to do something that is too difficult. But God’s purpose is not to curse us, but to bless us! He wants nothing but the absolute best for us – as individuals, couples, as families, and as Christian organisations. He really does not want us to have second best by going after some other goal or god, however good they may look, when we can be truly safe and totally blessed by following wherever He leads us!

So, next time we face some decision, or seek God’s guidance for the way forward, remember that God does not want us to experience anything less good, less safe, less perfect, than He has planned for us. We are to say to Him, "Show me what to do and where to go, and I will do it; I put no restrictions in place. The things I care most deeply about, even if they are good, I will put them aside to follow wherever you lead."

For God is a jealous, and absolutely loving, God.