PSALM 73:21-28 – “When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. 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. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. 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.”

THEME OF THE DAY: DEFEATING THE SIN OF ENVY.   The emotional swings in Psalm 73 are significant.  And these experiences are coming from the heart of a true believer.  The first one occurs from verse one through the seventeenth. In this section, Asaph, the Psalm author, is a spiritual mess.  He feels the heavy weight of the sin of envy, even to the point that he feels almost like giving up on his walk with God.  He doesn’t understand how the wicked and arrogant seem to prosper, as if God lets them off with an easy life. He then makes this bold statement that is basically saying, “What is the use?” . . .

“All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning” (Psalm 73:13-14).

We know the feeling.  It often does seem like the wicked prosper, the godless have less troubles than God’s people, and we suffer simply for seeking to do good and honor the Lord.  Asaph and sometimes, we, forget this is the lot of God’s people.  Jesus promised us we would face tribulation, trials, and trouble (John 16:33). We are to arm ourselves with this thinking to avoid the sin of envy.

Another way to defeat the sin of envy is in the second emotional swing in Asaph.  It begins to occur in the opening of verse sixteen with the contrasting word – but – and brings Asaph to the proper place in his heart found in the opening word of verse twenty-three – Nevertheless.   What follows is the sufficiency of the Lord in this life to satisfy the human heart and the certainty of being in glory where envy and all other sin will be no more.

Notice how Asaph goes from envying the wicked to being satisfied in the Lord Himself . . .

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you” (Psalm 73:25).

What satisfaction and contentment in the child of God!  And here is the staggering truth from Asaph. This is his prayer of confession.  He is proclaiming to the Lord that he desires nothing or no one else in life but the Lord Himself. And that, friends, is the cure for envy of anyone or anything in this life.  The question facing us now is . . .  “May we look to the Lord and pray these words of Asaph with sincerity of heart?”   I hope so.  It is the true cure to envy!

PRAYER: Father, help me to find my satisfaction in You in this life with the assurance of being with You in the next.

REFLECTION: The sin of envy is rooted in looking at others and not being satisfied with God’s Person and providence.