The Illogic of Jealousy

When Saul realized that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days. – 1 Samuel 18:28-29.

When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money. – Acts 8:18.

Othello is the story of a man who deeply loved his wife, but saw that love destroyed by a bitter, baseless jealousy. An unconscionable villain originated a mere suspicion that consumed the Moor, finally destroying him and his beloved. In one scene, Desdemona says she never gave Othello cause to be jealous. Emilia answers: “But jealous souls will not be answer’d so. They are not ever jealous for the cause, but jealous for they are jealous. ’Tis a monster Begot upon itself, born on itself.” The villain Iago understood that clearly, for he had earlier decided to leave Desdemona’s hanky in Cassio’s lodgings, knowing that “trifles, light as air, are to the jealous confirmations strong as proofs of holy writ.”

To escape the terrors to which jealousy can carry us, to elude the punishment it exacts on friendships and marriages, to banish the green monster once it appears, we need a strong self-confidence, a positive, God-enforced self-esteem, and an overflowing flood of God’s love within. Only then, and then barely, will we cheat jealousy of the powers it craves.

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV © 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved.