He is Jealous For Me

You must worship no other gods, for the LORD, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you. (Exodus 34:14, NLT)

He is jealous for me . . .

Recognize that phrase? It’s the first line from a Kim Walker Smith worship song called “How He Loves.”

That lyric’s been running through my mind today.

Like a lover, God is jealous for us.

He’s jealous of the lesser lovers we're tempted to occupy my thoughts with, or idols which want to occupy our hearts.

Where do you turn when your heart aches?

I’ve discovered there are two achiness levels:

The first is an obvious, once-in-a-while, somebody-just-died or I-got-bad-news kind of heartache. This kind of ache is universal in tough situations. Those are times our appetites dim, our vision narrows to survival, our plans shift. It’s about mourning or grieving and it can happen in any number of situations. When I have that kind of deep heart ache, it's more first nature for me to turn to God, even when I don’t understand what He’s doing.

Then, there’s the second kind of achiness. This one is much more subtle. This kind of heart achiness happens daily for me. It’s a general sense that all is not as good as it could be. It’s a nagging temptation toward discontent. It’s called Melancholy on the Oneishy temperament charts. It’s what I do during those times that’s trickier.

Anyone can spot an obvious ache and address it. It’s the subtle aches which can tempt believers to turn to lesser gods.

But God is calling us from behind the aches to run to Him and learn how to draw what our hearts need from Him. It’s not easy. You have to press in. You have to patiently wait. If the first time you attempt to have your heart satisfied through prayer and worship/communion with God doesn’t satisfy you, just keep coming back for more of His presence. He will reward those who diligently seek Him. That’s faith’s requirement.

He is jealous for me.

What will you do with that truth?