Scripture
The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.
— Nahum 1:2 (ESV)
Devotional
Your Lord is very jealous of your love, O believer. Did he choose you? He cannot bear that you should choose another. Did he buy you with his own blood? He cannot endure that you should think that you are your own, or that you belong to this world. He loved you with such a love that he would not stop in heaven without you; he would sooner die than you should perish, and he cannot endure that anything should stand between your heart’s love and himself. He is very jealous of your trust. He will not permit you to trust in an arm of flesh. He cannot bear that you should hew out broken cisterns, when the overflowing fountain is always free to you. When we lean upon him, he is glad, but when we transfer our dependence to another, when we rely upon our own wisdom, or the wisdom of a friend–worst of all, when we trust in any works of our own, he is displeased, and will chasten us that he may bring us to himself. He is also very jealous of our company. There should be no one with whom we converse so much as with Jesus. To abide in him only, this is true love; but to commune with the world, to find sufficient solace in our carnal comforts, to prefer even the society of our fellow Christians to secret intercourse with him, this is grievous to our jealous Lord. He would fain have us abide in him, and enjoy constant fellowship with himself; and many of the trials which he sends us are for the purpose of weaning our hearts from the creature, and fixing them more closely upon himself. Let this jealousy which would keep us near to Christ be also a comfort to us, for if he loves us so much as to care thus about our love we may be sure that he will suffer nothing to harm us, and will protect us from all our enemies. Oh that we may have grace this day to keep our hearts in sacred chastity for our Beloved alone, with sacred jealousy shutting our eyes to all the fascinations of the world!
Reflection
He did not buy you to share you. Not your love, not your trust, not your company. Broken cisterns insult an overflowing fountain. Even good Christian talk can become a substitute for Him. The jealousy is fierce because the love is. That is gospel, not moodiness. A Lord who would rather die than lose you will not shrug when you lean on an arm of flesh.
Goad
What rival—comfort, friend, or your own wisdom—is still sitting in the chair that belongs to Jesus this morning?
Tie-In
Morning tells you He is jealous of your heart. Evening teaches faith to sing of mercy and of judgment. The trials that wean you from rivals are the same trials that become a song.
Closing
Spurgeon’s classic text with a brief reflection to help today’s reader.
If these words have stirred something, sit with it.
NewGrapes Ministries. Making disciples, not pew-fillers. Soli Deo Gloria.