Dear Heavenly Father,
The psalmist said in Psalms 73:1-3(NLT), “Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts are pure. But as for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone. For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.” Many of us can relate to Asaph’s confession in this passage. We’ve been in situations where we almost lost our footing on this Christian journey as well. Asaph’s problem was that he looked around at people that were wicked, and they seemed to prosper, even though they were far from doing Your Will and heeding Your Word. These were people that had everything their hearts could wish for, and they didn’t think twice about walking all over others that were poor or didn’t have much. Asaph admitted to You that he had gotten so caught up in his envy of the proud crowd that he almost lost his way entirely.
Father, You tell us in Hebrews 12:1 to lay aside every single thing that weighs us down and run with endurance the race that YOU have set before us. The race doesn’t belong to us. It’s Your race. It’s Your Will that You have commanded us to follow, and we don’t have the luxury or time to focus on what others are doing. You tell us in Hebrews 12:2 to keep our eyes stayed on Jesus Christ, the One who wrote the book on how to start and finish the race in faith. He endured the cross and completed everything You commissioned him to do. He didn’t leave any detail undone. He endured tremendous humiliation and unfathomable suffering on the cross because of Your great love for us all. This is why we can’t afford to take our eyes off Jesus Christ, not even for one second. His example should consume our every effort, but many of us allow other things to steal our focus. Doing so opens the door for things like envy, worry, doubt, fear, and jealousy; and these heavies will cause us to lose our footing and possibly fall.
From the outside looking in, it seems that people with great wealth have it all, but many of them are not happy and feel empty on the inside. They worship things rather than worshipping You, the Creator of everything that exists. Many of them will never experience the true joy of gratitude. They are not as excited as many of us are regarding the blessings we’ve prayed so long to receive. Most of them will never know You in the pardon of their sins. They will never make Jesus Christ the Lord and Head of their lives. So, we should not envy them at all, because when a person doesn’t accept Your love, they are truly the saddest of all.
Witnessing the prosperity of the proud crowd, we might be tempted to feel cheated. We’re living according to Your Word, yet our lives are sometimes so challenging. On the other side, we see the wicked seemingly living it up, and they don’t appear to have a care in the world. We can’t take our eyes off You and Your Will. This will always cause us to become ungrateful and to lose momentum on this race. You tell us in Proverbs 23:17-19(NLT), “Don’t envy sinners, but always continue to fear the LORD. 18 You will be rewarded for this; your hope will not be disappointed. 19 My child, listen and be wise: Keep your heart on the right course.”
Father God, please help us recognize that You, and You alone, decide who will receive promotions and elevations. You will reward us at the time You appoint, and we don’t need to look at what is going on in someone else’s life. We must have faith in Your wisdom, power, and love; for You are a Righteous Judge, and You are our faithful God. Thank You for blessing us and bringing us this far. Please help us to continue to grow spiritually so we can be our best for Your Kingdom. Thank You for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and for the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Please let Your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In the precious and powerful name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Don’t Envy the Proud Crowd”, written by K. Lizzie, edited by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2019. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.