“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.”

Song of Solomon 8:6 ESV

Doing things for God keep him out. Doing things with God builds love and communion.

The “trick” to Christianity is Jesus. He is singularly the only thing good in our faith. Angels, power, heaven, things we believe are all simply not him. And all of them have to be tested and are potential idols. But Jesus. Simple quiet Jesus. Now that is another matter.

Have you noticed the theme of the wilderness? Not only does God seem distant but there is little satisfying. The wilderness is what the dark night of the soul was, as written by John of the cross. The soul loves its things it can conceive of. We need a season outside of things our minds delight in of God, and a season where just Jesus does it for us. No music. No books. No ministry. No raging at Christians who haven’t got it figured out as good as me. Just Jesus. When this man, this Godman, is enough for me the jealousy of the Lord is abated. He is jealous even over the things that are produced by himself. But by far the thing that arouses his jealousy is me. My wandering mind in the day is a sheep scattered in the wilderness. But if I refuse to come home because I found distraction better than the flock, he will get jealous if he loves me.

The coming destruction of all things is a gift to us. It will refine our palate for just Jesus. But love shouldn’t need the violence of the last age to be satisfied in just Jesus. If the ruthlessness of the end of the age is necessary for me to seek the Lord then repentance is needful for simply not loving Jesus enough to be satisfied in him alone anyway.

Jealousy is a flame. It is the actual flame of God himself. Hotter than hell, the jealousy of God must be satisfied by us and us alone. No one can cool the heat of his flame except me alone.