Qanna

Qanna

 

“Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” – Deuteronomy 4:23-24

We’re raised to believe that jealousy is a bad thing, as when a brother or sister gets something that we don’t and we get all puffed up about it.  But not all jealousy is the same.  Our perfect God is also jealous, and that is the meaning of one of His names, Qanna.

Qanna is Strongs Hebrew 7607.  It’s used four times in the Bible (Exodus 20:5, Exodus 34:14, Deuteronomy 4:24, Deuteronomy 5:9, Deuteronomy 6:15) and all four times refer to idolatry.  Two of those times refer to when God gave Moses the second commandment, which is not to have idols.  In these two verses, God refers to himself as Qanna, saying “for I the Lord thy God am a Jealous God”. 

But this kind of Jealousy is a good jealousy.  It’s not rooted in greed, but in love, as that of a husband toward his wife.  God is jealous for us.  He loves us so much that He wants to continually be the one we place on the throne of our own heart.  He wants to be the first one we turn to when we need help, the first one we think of when we wake, and the one we praise. 

We live in a time when we don’t consider idols as being idols.  This can be a dangerous spot for the child of God.  The world offers up idols in so many ways.  But what makes anything idolatrous is putting it before God on that throne of your heart.  It’s those things you just don’t want to let go of, those things that you can’t turn over to God when asked.

One of the top things we see as an idol these days is money.  If you don’t believe that, look at those who are unwilling to give it to God.  Tithing is a part of being a steward of God’s work here on earth.  Church buildings and programs don’t fund themselves.  God intends for us to fund His work.  The most common excuse is “I just don’t have enough to spare”.  For some reason we can trust God with our health, our salvation, and our family, but we can’t trust Him with our money?  Malachi 3:10 says “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.”  Did you get that?  God just challenged you!  God Himself says “try me”!  Any other time we hear these words, it would be equivalent to a double-dog dare and we would not back down!  But money we hold dear, even sitting it on that throne of the heart.  And that, my friends, is when it becomes an idol.  If you can’t trust God with your finances, you don’t fully trust God.

Another way we have idols here is through horoscopes (“Oh, no, she didn’t really stomp on that one!” YES, SHE DID!).  It grieves my heart to no end to see my Christian brothers and sisters reading horoscopes and talking about their zodiac sign.  Don’t tell me you don’t believe what they say and it’s just for fun when you do it every day!  Do you trust God with your future or not?  In Deuteronomy 4:19 we are told to “take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them”.  We are called to abstain from anything that even looks like evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22).  Horoscopes are rooted in Astrology, and Astrology is likened to sorcery and witchcraft (Isaiah 47).  Christians have no need of a horoscope if they are trusting God with their future.  Don’t taint what He is giving you day by day with these false prophets’ words. 

And don’t even ask me about those little stones to carry in your pocket that give you “energy” or “strength” or “peace” or “healing”.  OH PLEASE! It’s a rock already!  Give it to God – He created it.

Another way we make God jealous is by not giving Him our praise.  Praise for what?  What does He not deserve praise for?  Praise for everything!  If you ask for prayers for healing, and then God heals you, don’t give the doctor or the pills you took the praise!  Give that to God who made the doctor and the pills.  If you have asked for a job and God provides one, don’t give the employer the praise.  Give it to God who provides for you.  Praying for something and then giving the praise to someone else is like a child opening a gift at Christmas and then thanking the wrong relative for it.  God is a jealous God, and He wants our praise.

The bottom line is this.  Anything you hold in your heart so dear that you can’t give it back to God when asked is an idol.  We wouldn’t go around making our spouses’ jealous just for fun, would we?  That’s not love.  If you love God, you won’t do things to make Him jealous either.