For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Deuteronomy 4:24
In June 2022 an Australian sailor, John Deer, traveling solo around the world slipped off of his boat in the Caribbean Sea. Both sails were up and the engines were running when he hit the water. He knew he was nearly 11 miles from land as he watched his yacht, The Julieta, move further and further into the distance. To top it off, the water between him and the beach was an area known by locals as the Bay of Sharks.
Deer struggled for several minutes with the realization of his imminent death and inevitable fate. “This is the day I die” he said. But he began swimming, breaststroke for a while and then backstroke for a while.
As night fell and the waters turned dark, fear showed up and he found himself fighting the dangers beneath. “Things” started biting him and he panicked. He began screaming and beating the water in an attempt to scare whatever it was away.
Ten hours later, he safely made landfall. After a few failed attempts, he was finally able to flag down a passing boat. He was dropped off at a local police station and taken to see his boat that was completely destroyed and submerged. Everything he owned was lost, but he was alive.
In an interview Deer said something utterly amazing. He said, “I don't believe in the religious god . . . but I prayed to the universe. I put some energy out there.”
Simply stated, this Aussie sailor prayed to the creation rather than to the Creator. He was praying to the very sharks that he thought were going to eat him. As an aside, it turns out that there are no sharks in the Bay of Sharks.
God reveals himself in the pages of Scripture using several different descriptors in His name. In Deuteronomy 4:24 (see also Exodus 20:5; 34:14; Deuteronomy 5:9; 6:15), we see the term El Qanna (God is a jealous God). God is jealous in the sense that he will not put up with any other claims of #godness. He will not tolerate any other claims of deity or sovereignty. He is God and everything else that has ever existed or will ever exist is creation.
The absurdity of worshiping that which is created rather than the One who did the creating is self-evident. In Romans 1, Paul is discussing God’s dealings with the “unrighteous” and pens these words,
God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!
Romans 1:24–25
We may find it a bit odd in our day to use the word jealousy because it carries such negative implications. But when the term is used in the Bible of God, it is a manifestation of His fervent care and love for His people.
The beautiful lyrics of John Mark McMillan’s 2005 song “How He Loves” says it all,
He is jealous for me. Love's like a hurricane. I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy. When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory. And I realize just how beautiful You are, and how great Your affections are for me.
Father God, I am so very thankful that you were jealous for me, that you are zealous for me, that you love me with such passion. Lord, you’ve etched in my mind's eye that day when I realized how great Your affections were for me and that was the day I began to realize just how beautiful You are. Lord, I pray today that I will never forget. Let me forever be a tree that bends beneath the weight of Your grace and mercy.
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