This is such a good article!!! The rest of it is at the link below. Jealousy is tyrannical. It is catastrophic. It is metaphysical. It feels controlling and you and you cannot escape. It feels as if every particle of self-control you have in your entire being is vaporized in one fell emotional swoop. It brings people to the end of themselves in a millisecond, and they are no longer the same people. Bodily, it makes you feel like you’ve been infected with the rage virus — radioactive, indestructible, decomposing, inciting strong aversion to any human interaction that does not meet your singular end: “Envy makes the bone rot” (Proverbs 14:30; cf. also Song of Solomon 8:6, “jealousy is fierce as the grave”). Relationally, jealousy knows no moderation; it is domineeringly exacting, exhaustive, unaccepting of excuses: “For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge” (Proverbs 6:34). Divine Jealousy and Human Insecurity We often hear jealousy dismissed as insecurity. And, in response, Christians can be quick to look at God’s jealousy in Scripture (Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 4:24; 32:21; Zechariah 8:2) and respond, “If God can be jealous, so can I.” If only things were so easy. Both approaches (dismissal and approval) are, in fact, misguided, presupposing that insecurity itself is inherently undesirable. It’s not. It’s just the difference between divine and human jealousy. God’s jealousy is always a product of his perfect, self-sufficient love (Exodus 3:14; Psalm 50:9-15; Isaiah 40:28), which provides the opportunity for him to feel deeply jealous about the people with which he has freely covenanted. Humans, in contrast, are jealous as a product of their finite love, which, having limited emotional and relational resources with which to be vulnerable, actually makes the risk of entering into a relationship a bargain with one’s own selfhood. We feel that if we are betrayed (for example), and a relational jealousy is legitimate, then we will not only lose our love, but our selves. Of course, both divine and human jealousy contain a form of exclusivity, vulnerability, and the risk of deep pain and betrayal. And yet, human jealousy is unique in that it contains insecurity, because humans are not secure intimate relationships. Humans learn to experience the love of vulnerability, and to wager the self for the sake of intimacy in a form that is much less experienced, and much more taxing, than God. And so, true human jealousy is always insecure, because insecurity is part of the natural goodness of being finite. It is in how we respond first of all to our inherent, inevitable insecurity that determines how we handle our jealousy when it arises. God Reveals Through Jealousy Through jealousy, God shows us two things. First, he shows us himself. He is a jealous God (he even says “my name is Jealous” Exodus 34:14). It is part of his character as the covenanting God to take on the pain and hurt of experiencing his bride’s unfaithfulness (Hosea 4:13-14). Through our jealousy, we experience a communicable divine emotion (Deuteronomy 32:21). Second, he shows us ourselves. Through jealousy, the deepest desires of our hearts are elicited and amplified (Genesis 22:12; Psalm 66:18–20). The fire of jealousy burns away the distractions of life’s details to show us the things we treasure. This process of internal emotional suffering — of jealousy most pointedly – can help clarify and bring to the surface all that we would otherwise have kept hidden, from God, and even from ourselves.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 11:51:02 +0000
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