Today’s devotion comes from Exodus 34:11-17.
“Be sure to observe what I am commanding you this day: behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite before you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim —for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God— otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods. You shall make for yourself no molten gods.” Exodus 34:11-17.
—————–
Today, we learn another attribute of the LORD: “the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”. In spite of this warning that “you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God, and in spite of all the goodness shown to Israel by God, much of the Old Testament records the sad history of Israel worshipping other gods. For one example, the whole book of Hosea vividly illustrates Israel playing the harlot, chasing after other gods.
And less we get too smug, we too have chased after other gods, usually gods of our imagination of what we would like God to be, but nevertheless, still in violation of this command also expressed in the second commandment of the Ten Commandments.
But, there is hope!
The hope is based on “the working of the LORD” that we read in yesterday’s devotion. Exodus 34:10.
“I will heal their apostasy,
I will love them freely,
For My anger has turned away from them.” Hosea 14:4.
“For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying,
“This is the covenant that I will make with them
After those days, says the Lord:
I will put My laws upon their heart,
And on their mind I will write them,”
He then says,
“And their sins and their lawless deeds
I will remember no more.” Hebrews 10:14-17.
And mysteriously and marvelously, the LORD has made His elect, the true Israel, more than “just” His people. Through “the working of the LORD”, He has made them His bride. “… Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:25-27.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 