A Bit of a Tid (On a Jealous God)

"A Bit of a Tid" = Just a tidbit on a given topic that I don't have too much to say on...yet.

This past Sunday our worship leader took a bit of time to talk about, of all things, Oprah.  I am not a huge fan of Oprah for many reasons, none of which I'll get into here.  Our worship leader brought up her remembrance of an episode of the show where Oprah revealed the moment she stopped believing in the Judeo-Christian God.  Apparently it happened when her pastor read the scripture to the congregation regarding God as a jealous God.  Right then and there Oprah stopped believing.  Why?  Because jealousy is such a petty human emotion and any god worth their salt can't have a petty human emotion.

First of all, I'm always bothered by this sort of behavior.  The Bible shows that God or his people don't meet the individuals expectations and they shut down...without ANY further inquiry.  I've seen it at least a hundred times.  "I like Jesus, but his fan club keep me away"...declares someone who self identifies as an atheist (In my personal dictionary Atheist is described as an agnostic with a grudge...but that's another topic for another day) or "Jesus didn't keep the sabbath so he can't be God let alone holy", or "How can a loving God allow..."  These "road blocks" are fairly foreign to me.  If something doesn't meet my expectations my first impulse is a minor "revulsion" followed by further inquiry to try and fully understand.  So when something minor causes someone to immediately eject the idea...it significantly perplexes me.

Secondly, as our worship leader went on to say, the kind of jealousy the Bible refers to is NOT a petty human emotion.  It's not the jealousy that I get when someone gets published before me, or when someone gets a PS4 that I've wanted forever.  That kind of jealousy is not warranted and meets no criteria for truly logical behavior.  I have no claim on that publishing agent.  I have no claim on that PS4, etc.  It is a purely emotional response.  Let's say that my wife who swore before both God and Men to be mine, to cling only to me through sickness, health, for richer or poorer, suddenly cheated on me and decided to leave me for another man.  Would anyone EVER say that my jealousy in that situation was petty or unwarranted?  Would anyone ever fault me for burning with jealousy?  No.  Everyone would say that it was completely understandable and expected.

This jealousy is the closest definition we can come to for Divine Jealousy.  If we have pledged our troth, our faith and loyalty, to Him then of course he would be jealous of that.  The relationship he calls us into is even deeper than a mortal marriage which only lasts until one partner dies.  If my wife flirts with another man I am within my right and compelled to jealousy.  How much more when we flirt with other far lesser idols that are daily in our lives.

This dovetailed quite nicely with our pastor's sermon on the supremacy of Jesus that tends to be missing in our lives...which pummeled me into the ground and I'm much the better for it.  That may be my next post soon.

Pax,

W