Envy and Faith (Psalm 37:1-6)

¹ Do not fret because of those who are evil
or be envious of those who do wrong;
² for like the grass they will soon wither,
like green plants they will soon die away.

³ Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
⁶ He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.

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What struck me today is the notion of being envious of those who do wrong.

Why would we be envious? Because in the short run, it looks like they’re doing better, and the path they have chosen leads to a better life.  They seem to be getting away with their unrighteousness, and it might even seem as though the path of righteousness just isn’t as successful.

Behind this envy is something that goes back to the temptation in the garden:   God’s way is not as good.  The serpent presented Eve with what he convinced her was a better path to the goal he put in front of her.  Both the path and the goal were lies. They still are today.

Every time we fall to temptation, we are embracing the lie that God’s path is not as good.  We think that we will achieve our goals more readily by taking an alternate path, the path of sin.

And so David holds before us powerful promises of the Lord’s bless when we follow Him.  We are to trust in the Lord, delight in Him, commit our way to Him, instead of being led aside by envy of those who appear to be doing better than we are.   True success is always through our relationship with Him, following His way, and being led to the eternal vindication that will be ours in Him.

So my prayer today is simply to trust in the Lord.  My prayer is that of the petition in the Lord’s prayer “Lead us not into temptation.”  I pray that when faced with temptation, I would take to heart that the Lord’s way is always better, and so turn away from the lie.

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