God is jealous, and the Lord avenges;
The Lord avenges and is furious.
The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries,
And He reserves wrath for His enemies;
The Lord avenges and is furious.
The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries,
And He reserves wrath for His enemies;
The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
And will not at all acquit the wicked.
And will not at all acquit the wicked.
The Lord has His way
In the whirlwind and in the storm,
And the clouds are the dust of His feet.
In the whirlwind and in the storm,
And the clouds are the dust of His feet.
- Nahum 1:2-3
Do you ever get jealous? Jealous for your love, jealous for your friends? Let's not get confused here. Jealousy and envy are not the same. Envy is hatred or bitterness towards another person for having an advantage that you don't have, it's a negative feeling towards someone because they have what you want. Jealousy is more of fear or wary of being supplanted; apprehensive of losing affection or postition. Regardless of definition both are zealous vigilance and both are negative emotions that drive every person to do negative things. These are both negative energies that one should avoid because it hinders you from being the best that you can be, it makes you ungrateful for the blessings you have and it just sucks the life out of you.
But what is it like for GOD to be jealous? Nahum talks about GOD, the Almighty all powerful perfect being, GOD is jealous??? And indeed HIS jealousy drives Him to do disastrous acts. But GOD's jealousy is righteous and HE is never jealous for nothing. If we believe that GOD is right in every way, then even HIS negative emotion that could lead to disastrous effects could only mean that it has a good purpose. Usually humankind stirs GOD to jealousy when we replace GOD with something else we worship and be a slave to. Remember that Humans are created to worship something, either it be a thing or person if that something is not GOD then we stir HIS jealousy to anger and we suffer for the way we have treated HIM.
But what is it like for GOD to be jealous? Nahum talks about GOD, the Almighty all powerful perfect being, GOD is jealous??? And indeed HIS jealousy drives Him to do disastrous acts. But GOD's jealousy is righteous and HE is never jealous for nothing. If we believe that GOD is right in every way, then even HIS negative emotion that could lead to disastrous effects could only mean that it has a good purpose. Usually humankind stirs GOD to jealousy when we replace GOD with something else we worship and be a slave to. Remember that Humans are created to worship something, either it be a thing or person if that something is not GOD then we stir HIS jealousy to anger and we suffer for the way we have treated HIM.
Who are HIS enemies? Those that don't recognize HIM as GOD, those that rebel against HIM, anyone that is not for HIM is HIS enemy. Yes we don't have a choice, we are punished for not making HIM GOD. Don't you think that HIS love that caused HIM such jealousy is amazingly deep? Inspite of the scary jealousy that HE has, the great thing we should think about is the LOVE that stirs HIS jealousy. So why not return HIS love and love HIM back instead of make HIM jealous and get the beating. HE has HIS way, HE can do whatever HE likes and the clouds are just dust to HIS feet. So it's your choice, if you want to live a miserable life, you can simply ignore HIM but if you are wise, love HIM, and you will be satisfied no matter what life takes you.
