1644) I have been writing daily “minute” devotions for approximately 4 ½ years. Though I have a college degree in Bible and have taught it professionally for almost two decades, I do not know everything about the Bible and God, himself. As I write this, I approach the Bible in humility, not assuming I know everything, and that I can be wrong. I say this because there is much about our Christian faith I don’t understand. An example of this can be found in Deuteronomy 4:24.

In this verse, God says he’s a jealous God. I don’t understand this. Why would God be jealous? I have spent some time looking up the Hebrew words used in verses such as this one, but they explain little beyond the word itself.

My next thought is to look up the meaning of the English word jealousy and here is where I found something interesting. The first two definitions are what I would expect of the meaning of the word, but the third definition caught my attention.

According to the Oxford Languages dictionary, the third definition of jealous says, “fiercely protective or vigilant of one’s rights or possessions.” I don’t know if this is a shadow of what God meant in Deuteronomy, but it speaks to me. It says God is diligent in protecting me; vigilant at that.

Whether these thoughts reflect the meaning of God being a jealous God or not, I thought I’d share my thoughts with you, hoping it encourages you as it has me