Well, one of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 73. I'm amazed by the content of this Psalm, the practicality, and how it does speak into our experiences in ways that have a ring of familiarity. I would entitle this Psalm "The Spiritual Insanity of Envy."
It's easy to look around and keep score, and this is what this song confronts. Let me read the first few verses of Psalm 73:
Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Now notice the contrast here: God is good; but I was lost in envy.
Let me give you a definition of envy. Envy is a focusing more on what others have than what God has graciously provided for you, causing you to want what they have and to question the goodness of God.
Let me say it again. Envy focuses more on what others have than it does on what God has graciously provided, causing you to want what they have and to question the goodness of God.
Envy distorts your vision. Let me read.
For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.
And they say, "How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?"
(and it goes on.)
Envy always distorts your vision. It always causes you to ask the question, "Is God good? Does he have favorites? Is he really caring for me?" Because what envy is able to do is always find somebody in your life who's doing better than you; who has it easier than you.
And here's the devastating question of Psalm 73, "All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence." The psalmist says, "This is what I've obeyed for? This is why I followed you? This is why I've made these sacrifices? I'm being hammered, and these people who mock you are doing well."
You will never properly understand the goodness and grace and presence and promises of God by comparing what you have to what others have. It only leads to an embittered heart.
When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.
(That's a picture of anger in case you didn't figure it out.)
What Psalm 73 then does is say, you can only ever make a proper evaluation when you look at life from the vantage point of eternity. From the vantage point of eternity, the wealth and pleasure and comfort of people who don't know the Lord, the Psalm says, is like a dream. You awake in the morning, and it's vaporized-it's gone!
I would ask you: Are you looking around too much? Are you keeping score too much? Are you better at announcing what you don't have than what God has graciously given you? Have you allowed yourself to doubt God's goodness? Maybe envy is too much of a habit in your life. You'll never ever build your confidence in the goodness of God by comparing what you have to what someone else has!
Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion
1. What specific places have you been looking at that have caused you to want who somebody else has and question the goodness of God? Think of people, opportunities, specific events, financial benefits, etc.
2. In what ways (as you've struggled with envy) have you been tempted to ask the questions, "Is God good? Does he have favorites? Is he really caring for me?" Have you ever been honest enough with God to say to him, "This is what I've obeyed for? This is why I followed you? This is why I've made these sacrifices?" Why do you think questions like these inevitably lead us to an embittered heart?
3. By the power of his Spirit, how can intentionally shifting your heart toward God's goodness and grace help to heal the areas of your heart that are embittered because of envy? What practical steps can you take to break the habit of envy in your heart and life?
Conversation Prompts to Use with Children
For Younger Children:
• What do you think it means to be envious? Why is envy such an awful thing? How can envy lead us to believe that God isn't really good?
• When was the last time you felt you were being envious? Can you tell me a little about how you were feeling in that moment when you were envious? What do you think it would be like to feel envious of others all the time? What kind of people would that make us into?
• How can you and I work together to help each other not be envious of other people or other situations, but instead be grateful for how God has graciously blessed us the way he has?
For Older Children:
• Have you heard the old phrase, "Comparison is the thief of all joy"? Why do you think that might be true? Why is envying other people or circumstances in other people's lives such a poisonous thing to us personally?
• Talk to me about a time recently when you were really struggling with envy. What were the circumstances? The people involved? The feeling(s) you had? What do you think your life would be like if you felt envious of others all the time? What kind of person do you think that would shape you into over time?
• Why is envy a thing that directly affects our view of God's goodness? How can envy distort our view of God himself?
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