Psalm 73 : Overcoming EnvySýnishorn

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?