I've always struggled to understand the notion of a jealous God.
What does it mean to worship a God who is capable of feeling
jealousy?
I think I'm learning now what it means....what joy! How
amazing and wonderful that the God I love is a jealous God!
---
Daily Meditation for August 15, 2010
written by Henri Nouwen
_........................................................._
Protecting Our Hiddenness
If indeed the spiritual life is essentially a hiddenlife, how do we protect this hiddenness in the midst
of a very public life? The two most important ways
to protect our hiddenness are solitude and poverty.
Solitude allows us to be alone with God.
There we experience that we belong not to people, not
even to those who love us and care for us but to God
and God alone. Poverty is where we experience our
own and other people's weakness, limitations, and
need for support. To be poor is to be without
success, without fame, and without power. But there
God chooses to show us God's love.
Both solitude and poverty protect the hiddenness of our
lives.
---
Every now and then, people will say something like, "Oh,
we should go back to the fervor we felt when we first
discovered Christ's love! New Christians are so much
more passionate than those of us who have been
Christians for much longer." I think that's a crazy-
making idea. The myth that new Christians are the
"most passionate" rings untrue for me, even when it is
said precisely to encourage those new Christians.
I would not go back to that time for anything.
This isn't to say those times were bad, but I am so much
in awe of what God has done, I am so much
in awe of how He speaks to me now, and I can't wait to see
what the future will be like!
CS Lewis was very wise. In one of the Narnia books--can't
remember which one--Lucy meets Aslan after a long separation
and she remarks in surprise, "You've grown bigger!" Aslan then
replies, "You'll find that I grow bigger as you grow bigger"
(my own poor paraphrase).
Well, maybe I should be more sensitive and encouraging to
others around me. I just need to figure out how to be that
without saying things I don't think are true!
Amen to being loved by a "jealous:" God
ReplyDeletemore fragments of thoughts:
ReplyDeletethe idea of a "jealous" god has to be coterminous with the idea of a loving god who delights in giving us gifts.
solitude is when we are with god and no other, and he is rightly "jealous" of those times. but paradoxically, he is also with us as we enjoy his gifts: work, friendships, play....etc.
gary thomas spoke at church this past weekend and he illustrated his sermon with an anecdote of how he and his wife bought a very expensive doll for their daughter one christmas. nothing gave him more pleasure that christmas, than watching his daughter play with that doll.
as a father, it wouldn't have made sense to him if his daughter said to him, "dad, i'm not going to play with this doll because i want to be with you." (that would've been a waste of $100!!!)
as a father, he loved watching his daughter play with that doll, more than any gift that he got himself.
that really clarified things for me. if the little girl did nothing but play with the doll and subsequently refused to be in r/ship with her dad, then yes, we would say something unhealthy is going on.
but to say that the little girl can do *nothing* but just sit with her dad? that would be unhealthy too.
so, this week, i'm really meditating on what it means to be in solitude (and poverty) with god, AND to enjoy the gifts that he has given me, hopefully with a clear awareness of his delight as i do so.