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When we marry someone, we want their full heart. We want their devotion. We don't want to share it with someone or something else. When Les and I were first married, we didn't have a computer. I worked for a full year babysitting to save enough money to buy our first computer. When we at last bought it, my husband was quiet enamored with it. He spent hours learning it. He would stay up late arranging his files, setting up the desktop, and researching information. I started to get jealous. I lay in bed night after night by myself. I threatened to buy a wig for the computer monitor and name it Fanny. He didn't think that was too funny. Why was I so upset? I felt like something was interfering with his devotion to me.
The newness of the computer did wear off eventually and we laugh about those days now, but maybe I experienced some of what God feels in his relationship with us. When he sees me constantly distracted by things in this life, when I'm spending more time on earthly pursuits, and when I have little time left for him, he will question where my devotion lies. He sees my loyalties are divided. He knows the truth. The truth is Only God and God alone is sufficient for me. Without recognizing that truth, my heart's loyalty will become divided.
This is why God is a jealous God. Remember the story in I Kings 18. The people of Israel were torn between Jehovah, the one true God, and Baal, a false god. God was sick of their divided loyalties. He had Elijah call the people together on Mt. Carmel for a contest. The prophets of Baal built an altar and called upon Baal to consume their sacrifice. From morning until after midday they implored him to answer. No answer came. Then Elijah built an altar. He dug a trench around it. He had water dumped on the altar three times until the water filled the trench. Then he prayed, "Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." (I Kings 18:37) Fire fell from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the soil, and the water. And the people fell on the ground crying out, "The Lord--he is God! The Lord--he is God!"
I've been thinking a lot about how God can use the Corona virus. It could be a bit like the famine Israel was suffering through at the time the story on Mt. Carmel took place. It was a desperate time then as well. Still in the midst of the famine, people were striving after their idols. God was trying to wake them up, but it finally came down to a choosing. Were they going to choose the one true God or Baal?
I know for me I have to make choices each day right now. Will I get up and give thanks to God? Will I give him a sacrifice of praise even when things seem dark, or will I complain? Will I choose to live in fear over what might happen, or will I live in trust and peace knowing God is in control? Will I choose to focus on the earthly value of things, or will I focus far more on the eternal value that God has planned with all this? Will I continue to serve my idols of selfish wants or will I willingly give for the sake of my God?
God does not tolerate divided loyalties. He cries out for my heart to be wholly his. He is jealous for me. He is passionate about me. He is saying, "Choose! Choose who you will serve."
May my life declare each day, "The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God."
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