"Hey, Jealousy. . ."

I'm glad you stopped by today. I hope you are finding great encouragement as you read through the Bible. God is at work in you through His Word!

Well, it's Monday again. My vacation is rapidly coming to an end, but I will be glad to get back to church. It is Lent, after all, and I've got plenty of work to do.

Here's the answer from yesterday:
Sun, Mar 8:
Numbers 22:21 21 Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.
Numbers 22:28 28 Then the LORD opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?"

And here's the question of the day:
Mon, March 9: What was the name of the man who came down from Judea, took Paul’s belt and bound himself? (Acts 21)


And here's the reflection of the day:
The two stories in Numbers 25 illustrate external threats to Israel. The first is Balak's desire to curse Israel, and through it we see God's protective power even when Israel is unaware of it. And the second story involves Israel's participation in idolatry, which recalls the "Golden Calf Incident" and produces the same consequences.

Perhaps the most noticeable feature of this story is God's jealousy. It is a clear theme in today's readings as well as in most of the Bible.

Jealousy involves "divine passion," according to Dozeman, stressing that God is very much involved in Israel's life and story. He has little tolerance--strike that--NO tolerance for allegiance given to anyone other than Himself. Though scholars and preachers may try to water down the degree to which God is intolerant of this, the Bible remains clear. Dozeman continues, "God is not casual about our commitments. God is jealous about how we worship (Num 25:1-5) and how we live (Num 25:6-18)."

How do you feel about that? Are you giving God a lot to be jealous about?

Allison