Have you ever been envious of someone?
Have you felt the soul-sucking bitterness that comes with it?
At one point in my life I had a friend whose house I coveted. I would gripe about how her house was WAY too big and about how much money they must spend on utilities, and avoid meeting with her.
I thought the problem was with her, when later, after we had a little distance, I discovered that the problem with actually in my heart. I had allowed the weed of envy to grow in my mind, and it had grown so big that it was distorting my vision!
I don’t think that envy is something most of us ever truly conquer, but I think that Scripture shows us some ways that we can work through it in a godly way.
I wrote the following Bible study to be used with older children, teens, or adults. I think the questions are pertinent to anyone struggling with envy, which can happen at any age!
The brute beast inside me – a devotion for Psalm 73
Read Psalm 73 in your preferred translation. (you can switch translations in the Bible Gateway link if you like. I usually use the NIV because it’s what I grew up with!)
1) Why does wickedness look so appealing?
2) How does envying our friends compare to envying the wicked?
3) What does envy do to us?
4) How does it cause us to act before God? How does it cause us to act towards the object of our envy?
5) How does God approach us in our brokenness and sin?
6) How does the author move from oppressive envy to a place of peace?
In answer to this last question, I have three suggestions that have worked for me when I have recognized that my heart is grieved and my spirit embittered.
A) I enter the sanctuary of God.
I have to intentionally enter the presence of the Lord.
B) I speak aloud the truths that I need in my heart.
In the case of the author of Psalm 73, he talks about how God is the strength of his heart and his portion forever.
Thirty seconds after declaring himself plagued and punished, he claims that earth has nothing he desires besides God. I’m not sure anyone could have such a quick turnaround in their heart, so he’s either speaking of what he learned in the past (i.e. the Psalm is written in retrospect) or he’s convincing himself of what he knows is true. I think it’s a mix of both.
C) I give praises for the objects of my envy.
This one isn’t in the psalm, but I know it helps! In the case of my friend, I started thanking God for the gifts that had been given to her, and praying for her. Doing that felt like uprooting that weed and tossing it right out of my mind. It was so freeing!
My son’s green-eyed monster 🙂
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