Z E A L

“ZEAL FOR THINE HOUSE HAS EATEN ME UP!”

PSALM 69:9a

“HE TRUSTED IN THE LORD THAT HE WOULD DELIVER HIM:

LET Him deliver Him, seeing he delighted in him.”

PSALM 22:8

Zeal is enthusiastic eagerness and diligently passionate devotion in pursuing the accomplishment of a goal or ideal. Causes are promoted by contagious and strongly infectious emotions. Zeal is an exciting, zestful, and a fervent inspiration that is a great motivator for people to perform great feats of purpose in academic, athletic, professional, biblical, musical, or even criminal careers. A godly zeal for life can cause you to be an encouragement to those around you. In the negative, zeal can cause a bitter person to commit horrible acts upon themselves or others. One can be a zealot and direct their zeal toward temporary things, such as making money, promotions, sports, entertainment, leisure, or hobbies; or one can direct zeal toward praying, reading and studying the Word f god, and helping others. The effectual zealous prayer of a righteous person will bring forth results. Zeal is a gift that should be based and founded on godly things, putting God first place in all things. Zeal has the ability to draw loyalty from others as it sets on fire their passions; then they begin to imitate that same excitement. Zeal for God should inspire one to be interested in living “truth” principles that bring glory to God. A Christian must have a zeal for doing God’s will and standing against evil. God hates lukewarmness, apathy, and indifference, but He loves a loyal, faithful and zealous servant who respects and fears Him. God desires first place in a believer’s life. To believe the right doctrines, fellowship with God’s people, think the right thoughts and do the right thing is not enough if there is no enthusiasm and devotion to God. Lukewarmness has to be replaced with fiery commitment and an intense love for God that consumes all fleshly desires that reek of the world. God’s desire is that His people worship Him in spirit and in truth, not in routine, repetitive rituals that are void of life.

Both a Hebrew word and a Greek word, zeal can be translated either “zeal” or “jealousy.” The Hebrew “quana” and the Greek “zeloo” are translated in different places as “jealousy,” “envy,” and “jealous zeal.” The meaning is found in the relationship of the person to the thing that is desired. The Hebrew root “quana” portrays a very strong emotion, a passionate desire or jealousy. Positively, the strong emotion can be viewed as a high level of commitment when it describes the feeling of a person for something that is rightly his or her own. In this sense, “jealousy” is associated with intense love. When applied to God, “jealousy” conveys the fierce intensity of His commitment to His people, even when they turn fro Him. In giving the Mosaic Law, the Lord announced to the people of Israel that they must remain committed to Him and not turn to idolatry. He said, “I, the LORD you God, am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:5). God’s jealousy over His people is expressed in the Old Testament history both in “chastisement” and in “showing love.” The chastisement was to bring His people back to Him for blessing and to keep them away from ungodly paths that would eventually hurt them. God’s disciplines are not for punishment, but for his people to be promoted into greater blessings in His kingdom. Jehovah God is not only jealous for His people, He is jealousy for His land, and for Jerusalem, also known as Zion (Joel 2:18; Zechariah 1:14). While God’s anger is an expression of His jealous wrath, His acts of judgment, recorded in the Old Testament, are for the ultimate benefit of a people who must be brought back to a right relationship with tier God to experience His blessings. When referring to the strong emotion of jealousy itself, and not to the relationship between one person and another or between a person and an object, the word “qana” can be translated negatively as “envy” (Proverbs 3:31; 23:17).

Zeal or jealousy can both have positive and negative influences. God has given emotions to mankind that can either…

... Selection for Chapter 18