Psalm 73 : Overcoming Envy

Scripture: Psalms 73:1-3

Envy robs us of our contentment

Envy is defined in dictionary.com as a feeling of discontent or covetousness regarding another person’s possessions or successes. While Psalm 73 deals with the specific case of envying the prosperity and success of wicked people who seem to thrive despite their wrongdoing, what it teaches about envy is applicable even to cases where the object of our envy might be a good person. That’s because envy shows that there is a problem with our outlook and attitudes. It doesn’t have to do with who we are envying. So as we study Psalm 73, we’ll focus less on the psalmist’s descriptions of the wicked and more on his internal struggle with envy. 

The most common cause of discontentment in our lives is usually the result of comparing our situation with someone else’s. We look at what someone else has and feel miserable because we don’t have that thing. Our problem isn’t necessarily that we don’t have enough, just that someone else has something that we now want to have. Or that they have a bigger and better version of something that we have. And so we envy them. 

The problem is that once we start measuring our happiness by what others have, there is no end to what we think we need. We can always find someone who has more than we do. And so even as God gives us more, we shift the bar for happiness higher because we start comparing ourselves with someone else who has even more. 

In Psalm 73:3, we see that comparing himself with others was the psalmist’s problem as well. The verse reads, “For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” The psalmist’s problem wasn’t that he didn’t have enough. His problem was that he was looking at the riches of others and envying them their good fortune. What bothered him when he looked at the wicked people around him wasn’t their wickedness, it was their prosperity. And he coveted that prosperity. 

Do you allow envy to steal your happiness and blind you to the blessings that you already have?

Scripture: Psalms 73:4-15

The Slippery Slope of Envy

Yesterday, we explored how envy robs us of our contentment. Today we will examine how envy can lead us to compromise our values.

The danger with envy is that it is often just the first step down the slippery slope of compromise. When we become fixated on something that someone else has that we don’t, we get tempted to bend or break rules to get that something for ourselves. This pattern can be seen from the very beginning of creation, in the story of the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve’s problem wasn’t that they lacked enough food, but that they desired the fruit that had been forbidden to them. Because they coveted something that only God could have, they ended up disobeying his command in order to get what they wanted. And we are still living with the consequences of their choice.

Similarly, once envy had entered the psalmist’s heart, he began to question the value of obedience to God. In v13 he says, “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.” As if the only reason for being good is to be given what we want and that if we don’t get what we want it isn’t worth it to be good!

We also tend to respond the same way. For example, if you’re trying to sell a house, you might compare the offers you are getting to someone else who got a higher amount by selling in black. There is then a temptation to think, “What’s the point of keeping the rules? I can get a much larger amount (that I deserve to get) if only I accept money in black. It is how the system is! I can’t help it!”. Or if someone gets a raise at work and you don’t – and who doesn’t covet a raise – there is a temptation to think “What’s the point of working hard and being sincere at work? Might as well slack off and cut some corners if my work is not appreciated”.

That’s why James 1:14-15 warns us, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” Because envy rarely stops with just envying. It often leads to actions that are not in line with what is pleasing to God. The psalmist reflects on this when he says, “When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you” (Psalms 73:21-22). Envy harms our relationship with God.

Have you ever felt tempted to compromise your values because of envy?

Scripture: Psalms 73:16-24

Overcoming Envy Requires an Eternal Perspective

In the previous days, we saw how envy robs us of our contentment and can lead us into moral compromise. Today we will look at how we can overcome the problem of envy by gaining an eternal perspective. 

What helped the psalmist turn away from his envy was to shift his perspective from a temporal one to an eternal one. We are not meant to live as if this life is all there is, we are meant to live keeping eternity in mind. He was reminded of this truth when he went to worship God in the temple. He says in verses 16-17, “But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.” and later in verses 23-24, “Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.” 

He was reminded that a day would come when both he and the people he envied would die. And at that time, all that they had accumulated on earth would be of no use to them. As Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:7-8, “We brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” When we die, we can’t take anything with us. Therefore, there is no point in accumulating more than we can use in this life. As long as our needs are met, it is foolish to allow envy or covetousness to make us unhappy. 

In Luke 12, a person came to Jesus with a complaint that his brother hadn’t given him a fair share of their inheritance. What he wanted was for Jesus to get his brother to give him his share. Instead, Jesus tells him, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15). Jesus then went on to share a parable about the foolishness of amassing wealth beyond our needs when we really don’t know how long we have to live. You might die tonight and then what would be the point of having fought with your brother about the inheritance? He concluded by saying that it is more important to be rich towards God than accumulating riches for oneself. 

Similarly, in Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus taught, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The parallel passage in Luke explains how we can store up treasures in heaven. It says, “Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail…”(Luke 12:33-34 ). This basically means that instead of looking at those who have more than we do and being driven by envy to add to what we have, we look at those in need and are willing to use whatever we have to help them. Luke is not saying that we should keep nothing for ourselves. What he is saying is that rather than focusing on what we don’t have, we focus on what we do have and see how we can use that to be a blessing to others. And he says that when we do that, we are storing up for ourselves treasure in heaven even if we don’t become the richest people here on earth. 

Do you spend more time thinking about what you lack or about how you can help those less fortunate than you?

Scripture: Psalms 73:23-28

Delighting in God: The Antidote to Envy

As mentioned in yesterday’s devotional, we should be more concerned with accumulating treasure in heaven than here on earth. However, this doesn’t mean that our treasure is limited only to heaven, nor that we must settle for less during our earthly life. What truly enabled the psalmist to be content was when he was able to say in v25, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” and again in v28 he declares, “But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.” True contentment comes only when we truly believe that having God with us is enough for all our needs. Envy and discontent can take root in our lives only when we believe that God is not sufficient, that something other than God is necessary for our happiness.

Sometimes we’re not conscious of the fact that we don’t value God enough. For instance, if you hear of someone who led a wild life and then made a deathbed commitment to God, how do you feel? Do you envy them, thinking that they got into heaven despite enjoying every kind of pleasure all their life? Or do you feel sorry for them that they didn’t know God until it was almost too late? If our first reaction is envy, then we’re probably undervaluing God. We’re thinking that a worldly, indulgent life is more desirable than a life lived by God’s values in God’s kingdom.

Can we genuinely echo the psalmist, “There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you?” Proverbs 16:8 reminds us, “Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice.” Do we truly believe that it’s better to be righteous and have less than to be extremely wealthy without God? Jesus compared the kingdom of God to priceless treasure, so valuable that a person would be willing to give up all that they had to belong to the kingdom (Matthew 13:44-46). Do we value being in the kingdom that much? Or do we place a higher value on an abundance of possessions?

Do you believe that a relationship with God is worth more than material wealth?