Key verse:Psalm 69:9, “For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me,” (KJV).
Zeal is dedication or passion or enthusiasm for something. Zeal for God is to be devoted and being very passionate about God and the things of God. Psalm 69 describes David’s suffering as a result of his consuming zeal for the house of God. Ultimately, however, this messianic Psalm is a foreshadowing of the suffering, persecution and inevitable triumph of Jesus Christ. Psalm 69 is a messianic Psalm because it is ascribed to our Lord, Jesus Christ, and it is in verse nine, in which it says: “Zeal for your house has consumed me.” But what is zeal? Perhaps in order to understand it, you have to go back to the time of Jesus when He was perhaps sitting on a stool and weaving together a whip, John Chapter 2 tells the story. He got up and used the whip to drive out all the people that He found selling in the temple. And it was ascribed to Him at that time, a line from Psalm 69: “Zeal for your house has consumed me.” That is a picture of zeal. In those days when we got converted, we demonstrated godly zeal and righteousness. We shunned our ungodly way of living and ungodly friends. We extensively prayed and embarked on evangelism. We locked ourselves inside to seek the face of God. Hardly can you find any new convert travelling without his pocket Bible and tracts. We were dishing out tracts as we travelled.
Psalms 69:7-9, speaking of king David firstly, but ultimately of the Lord Jesus, reveals a zeal that burned within for the things of God. Zeal speaks of intense passion and devotion to God. A zeal for the Lord motivates action and a commitment to God’s priorities that consumes one’s being. Jesus demonstrated zeal by going into the temple with whip to cleanse it of unholy activities going on there.
God commanded the Israelites to remove any trace of leaven from their homes in preparation of the feasts of Passover and Unleavened bread. Leaven was and is a type of sin in the Bible; so, it had to be removed. So, Jesus here was simply doing in His Father’s house what all of the Israelites were doing in their own homes. He was removing the leaven and removing the sin. The zeal (that is His burning passion, fervour and emotion) that Jesus had for His Father’s glory drove Him to clear all out the people doing business in the temple. Jesus was moved to demonstrate zeal because the name of God was attached to the temple.
What are you zealous for? Some are zealous for the mundane things of this world; some are zealous for their career, vocation or profession; but what ought we to be zealous for?Your zeal should be for the Lord; be interested in what God is zealous about. David was zealous when it came to the things of God. The zeal was consuming him it and was eating him up. We should be zealous for the care of others (Colossians 4:12-13); for spiritual gifts.
(1 Corinthians 14:1-12); for good works (Titus 2:14); and in prayers (James 5:16-17).
Being zealous about God, His truth and service will make the difference in our generation.
• Today’s nugget: Zeal Consumes You. Prayer: Lord help me to increase my zeal for You. Prayer lines: 08033299824.E-mail: [email protected]. Rev. Abel UkachiAmadi, General Superintendent, Assemblies of God Nigeria
