The Day I Learned God Wasn’t Mr. Scrooge

Feb 13, 2023

When you hear the word jealous, you often think about something ugly.

You think about someone who is overprotective, or maybe it reminds you of when you felt inferior and wished you had something someone else does. In today’s culture, it’s never used in a positive way. However, we know that God is always good, and yet the Bible also calls Him jealous! So how do we come to a holistic, holy, and righteous understanding of God’s jealousy for you and for me?

I remember the first time I heard that God was a jealous God. It was when a pastor said that we shouldn’t worship other idols because that made God mad. It kind of reminded me of Mr. Scrooge from a Christmas Carol. God was painted as this stingy, grouchy, mean old man that got really angry if I didn’t love Him and worship Him in every moment of every day. Maybe you have this image of God in your head, a feeling like you can’t live up to the way God expects you to love and worship. So every day you look at yourself, realize you fall short, and then feel like hiding from the jealousy of God because you can’t live up to what He expects from you.

But then I found Jesus.

Jesus steps into the scene as the Good Shepherd. The one who cares for His flock, makes them lie down in green pastures, leads them beside still waters, restores our souls. He is the one who protects us in the valley of the shadow of death, and when we wander away, He chases us down and fights with every part of His being until death on a cross to ensure that you and I can know and be known by Him. That picture looks nothing like Mr. Scrooge; in fact, it looks like a completely different word….

Zealous.

Did you know the Hebrew word for jealous is the word “quana”. Sure it means jealous, but it’s a holy, righteous jealousy that can also mean zealous. To be zealous is to put great energy behind a passionate pursuit of someone or something.

Exodus 34:14 says:

“Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

- Exodus 34:14

Quana is the word that God uses to describe how He feels about you. It’s not that He wants to hold you with a death grip and put you on His trophy wall of “good Christians” - He wants with every ounce of His being to pursue you and let you know He is with you and for you through the end of time!

So what do we do with that today?

Well, I believe it looks like returning to that first commandment in Exodus.

Instead of worrying about if you’re good enough to satisfy the jealousy of God, maybe turn to Him and worship Him in these next few minutes as an opportunity to see God for what He really is: the Good Shepherd that has been chasing after you to save you from the pain you are unknowingly walking into. He is the loving Father who wants to show you how much He loves you, but in turn needs a moment with you so He can express it with your ears, eyes, and heart turned to Him.

God’s jealousy is a comfort to us because it’s a reminder that He will stop at nothing to make sure you’re in the safest place possible: His presence.