"A Jealous God"

There are many times in the scriptures where God states through his prophets ancient and modern that he is indeed a jealous God.

• Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; (Exodus 20:5)

• For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: (Exodus 34:14)

• God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. (Nahum 1:2)

• So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I am jealousfor Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. (Zechariah 1:14)

• And it shall come to pass that they shall know that I am the Lord their God, and am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of my people. (Mosiah 11:22)

I never really understood the phrase. Isn't God perfect? How can he be jealous? What makes him jealous? And what can I do in order to please Him and find favor with Him. These were all questions I didn't know I had until this last week.  I am taking a religion class on the second half of the Old Testament and while reading about Elijah the prophet in 1 Kings he clarifies why our God is a jealous one he says

• And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword ( 1 Kings 19:10)

To give more insight into the meaning of that and how we can apply it to ourselves I also turned to a modern apostle of the Lord Elder Dallin H Oaks, in his 2013 general conference address he said.

• “For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, … shewing mercy unto … them that love me, and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:5–6). The meaning of jealous is revealing. Its Hebrew origin means “possessing sensitive and deep feelings” (Exodus 20:5, footnote b). Thus we offend God when we “serve” other gods—when we have other first priorities.

God, our Heavenly Father isn't envious of anything we have or suspicious of what we are doing. When He sees that He is not one of our top priorities and that we put our job, homework, video games, or sports before Him does that really show that we love Him? He paid the ultimate sacrifice giving His only begotten son Jesus Christ in order for us to return to live with Him someday and if we allow ourselves to forget that or why He even put us here  on earth in the first place it is no wonder he said that he is a jealous God. I know that I am in no way perfect and have to make a lot of changes to my priorities. It is my hope and prayer that we all can at least ponder in our minds what we can do to change and become better so that we can do what is right, obey the commandments and return to live with our Heavenly Father again.

Preston