Jealous God

“you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…” Exodus 20:5

God can get jealous. Doesn’t that sound very human? But the Bible mentions at least 14 times about a God who is a ‘jealous God.’

Couple weeks ago, we were down in Minneapolis to see a friend. We went to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. I offered to watch over Sebin so that Hyemi can go enjoy the exhibitions with her friend. Sebin and I were in a play room for babies. While having fun in the playroom, Sebin found this baby boy who was 2 months younger than her. She got excited and she crawled up to him, waved to say hi. What happened next surprised me. She gave him a hug and kissed him! I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was jealous! You know, I kiss Sebin all the time. But it takes so much effort to have her kiss me. I have to beg for it. And now here I see Sebin going up to this stranger baby and offers her “kind gesture!”

Sebin usually enjoys my company. When she is sleepy or hungry even I, the father, cannot do anything. She only looks for Hyemi! It is always Hyemi that holds Sebin to put her to sleep. But yesterday, Hyemi was working on something so I had to put Sebin to sleep. I always wanted to do it but it was always a challenge. This time, once again I struggled. Sebin fought back, looking for mom. Eventually Sebin started to fall asleep in my arms. It felt so good. And I got jealous at Hyemi for all the awesome moments she gets all the time.

God is jealous. But that is because He loves us. One of the human words to best describe God’s love was “jealousy.” It is a term to help us understand His love. It’s not the selfish, creepy type of jealousy but pure love for His children. And I am thankful for God’s jealousy. And I am glad He is our Father.