Read Psalm 73:1-3. 1Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 2But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. 3For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Psalm 73 begins a short collection of psalms by Asaph the choirmaster. This psalm’s importance for teaching us how to confess and trust in times of searching dismay simply cannot be overstated.
It’s not what the wicked are doing, but simply their prosperity that is causing Asaph to be unsettled. Is God truly good to the pure in heart? Does God actually punish the wicked? Then how do we explain their prosperity? What about Psalm 1? Why aren’t the wicked blowing away like chaff? Why am I slipping instead of standing? Where’s the prosperity I was promised for all my righteousness? How can I be content when I see the things of this Earth so unevenly distributed by God?
Who among us hasn’t asked these same questions? But how many of us have taken these questions to God directly? Who among us hasn’t looked in envy at the godless? But how many of us have identified and confessed our envy to God?
Thankfully Jesus, the only truly pure in heart person to ever live, never slipped while wrestling with the will of God in the wilderness and in the garden. Never was there envy in him, only submission to God’s will and forgiveness of the wicked. How? Because he could see God’s goodness on the other side of his suffering. The joy was set before him (Heb. 12:2), not around him.
In Christ we too must battle our envy with faith. Faith in a future justice. Faith in a good God. Faith in God’s plan to restore to us all that we have lost or never found in this life. Faith that the prosperity of the wicked is just an illusion.
To live is Christ is to battle envy with faith, ever trusting that God is truly good to the pure in heart – those whose hearts have been made pure by faith in Christ.
You: Have you ever been envious of the wicked?
You in Christ: How will trusting your union with Christ more and more keep your heart from envying others, especially the wicked?
Christ in you: How can you look beyond this life to the “joy set before you” today? Where do you need to shift your gaze?
Prayer. Father, I confess my envy to you. I don’t always understand why those who trust you suffer and why the wicked prosper. But help me to trust that you are good, and in the end your justice will reign in Christ. Amen.
To Live is Christ 