Jealous Much?
Psalm 73: 1 – 3
No one can deny it—God is really good to Israel and to all those with pure hearts. But I nearly missed seeing it for myself. Here’s my story: I narrowly missed losing it all. I was stumbling over what I saw with the wicked. For when I saw the boasters with such wealth and prosperity, I became jealous over their smug security.
I remember well tripping over my sense of injustice at the financial success of the unrighteous. Was I envious? Yes, and outraged. It seemed wrong to me that people who were not blessing God, were not kind and were not gracious to others should reap financial blessing while the Godly suffered lack. Truth be told, sometimes I am still bothered but I remember this, God is not mocked. As you sow, so shall you reap (Galatians 6: 7) and I have seen this to be true.
God is good to us, as the scripture says, and He is a rewarder of faith and of all who seek him. And the truth about seed is that it will produce a harvest. It always does. So, those who sow good seed reap a harvest of good. However, the harvest is not always financial. Usually you reap in kind. Tomato seeds produce tomatoes, not cucumbers so if you want cucumbers, sow cucumber seeds. Those who reap financially may be reaping other harvests they don’t desire but they know and understand how to sow for financial gain. Others reap great relationships, peace, etc. but don’t enjoy the same financial success. That does not mean they are not successful. Their success is just in a different area. Those who are smug and arrogant about their financial fortunes often fail tragically in other areas.
We certainly should not envy them because we don’t know what they have done to build their financial well-being. They may have done work or spent hours that other people are unwilling to do. Instead of jealousy, we should seek the Father asking Him to teach us. Whatever area of our lives is missing being jealous of someone else is not going to improve it. Those people may or may not have their lives together in other areas so we may not truly want their lives. The God of the harvest has taught that we can have what we ask for and we know if others are being successful, then we can too. So, really, we should be glad when someone shows us what is possible. Then we can seek God and ask Him to show us the way.
