Pray:
Ask God to orient or reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
Psalm 73: 13-17
“13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. 14 All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments. 15 If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children. 16 When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply 17 till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.”
Understand:
Remember that envy creates discontentment in us because others have what we do not. Envy is a tool the enemy can use to get us to focus on ourselves. When we focus on ourselves, we tend to become self-absorbed. It really is a bad place to be! It doesn’t matter how old we are-we can be a high school kid or a grandparent-none of us are immune to envy.
In this passage, we see Asaph’s envy leading him to wrong thinking, but he doesn’t stay there. He makes a choice to take his thoughts and feelings to the Lord.
Asaph shares with us his most intimate and raw feeling about his walk with God. His emotions express self-doubt and envy. His envy caused him to question his faith. He’s thinking, “I’ve lived a decent, honest, and respectable life. I’ve lived my life for the Lord, and all I’ve gotten for it is suffering and punishment.”
But he shifted from wrong thinking to right thinking as he entered the “sanctuary of God.” He chose to view the continued prosperity of the wicked through the experience of worship, where he is able to understand a bigger picture. Asaph turned his thoughts to the Lord and is reoriented back to Him. All that he was seeing troubled him; He wasn’t able to truly face his despair until he entered into worship. Asaph’s choice to worship God was crucial to the new outlook he developed.
Apply:
The key to handling envy correctly is to recognize what Asaph did in the midst of his struggle: he worshiped God.
To truly worship God means that we center our minds on Him and allow His truth to renew our hearts and minds. We are to offer our bodies to him as a living sacrifice. We’re not to conform to this world, but instead be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Only when our minds are changed from focusing on worldly things will they be able to be centered on worshiping God.
Envy is our flesh’s attempt to focus on worldly pleasures; it’s a focus on self. Envy is one of many types of distractions that flood our minds and keep us from praising and glorifying God. Envy will only hinder true worship.
Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt 11:28-30). Envy can become a burden; one that can crush us under its weight. If envy has a hold of your heart, will you let go of it and find your rest in Jesus?
Worship Him now and let the truth of His word wash over you and renew your mind.
Live:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.) Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today. KEEP PRAYING THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY.