I never thought I could feel the emotion of envy. Jealousy? yes. Comparison? sadly every day. But when I did a devotional on envy I knew what I had been feeling was rooted in envy.
Envy can be described as a feeling of dissatisfaction or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities, or luck. In other words, envy is wanting what someone else has. It is the root cause of emotions like jealousy and comparison.
I have always thought jealousy and envy were one and the same. While they are similar there is a difference between them. Jealousy is the fear of losing something that you feel belongs to you, whereas envy is the desire for that which is not yours. Envy hates to see other people happy and secretly rejoices when others fall.
Proverbs says envy rots the bones (Proverbs 14:30). It is poison to our hearts. Our flesh will naturally feel envy when presented with the opportunity. And it takes intentional work in our spirits to overcome the emotion of envy and be free to rejoice with other people’s successes.
Our culture of social media is a breeding ground for envy. If we are not careful, and if we don’t guard our hearts when we scroll through other people’s lives, we run the risk of falling into discontentment with our own life.
Studies have shown one in three people feel worse after scrolling through social media.
Galatians 5: 19-21 says, When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God.
So we must be intentional when this feeling arises within us. We must learn to bring those negative emotions to the light and to God for them to lose their power.
In this article, I want to discuss examples of envy in the bible, my story and how I have experienced envy, the root of envy, and how we can overcome envy in the bible.
EXAMPLES OF ENVY IN THE BIBLE
Envy goes as far back as when Lucifer fell from heaven. It was envy that took him down. He was filled with pride and he wanted more-the place of honor and glory reserved only for God.
Adam and Eve dealt with envy. It drove them to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They thought they deserved to be like God and couldn’t understand why God would keep that from them (Genesis 3: 1-7).
We also see Cain struggling with bitter envy of his brother Abel. Abel’s sacrifice was more pleasing to God than his brothers and the hate Cain felt drove him to murder. (Genesis 4: 3-8)
MY STRUGGLE WITH ENVY
I remember when I first started writing 3 years ago. I asked the Lord, “How is my blog going to stand out among all the other wonderful blogs out there? You see I was envious of their success. I wanted what they already had. Even though it might have taken them a while to get to where they were in their journey, I still wanted their success. And I especially didn’t want to wait on it.
Today I still find myself envious of others’ success. I don’t appreciate their talent and giftedness. I’m sure you have felt the same way at one time or another. You see or hear of someone achieving or receiving something you think you deserve. You want to be happy for them but your flesh wants to criticize the person.
Envy keeps us from responding with a blessing and instead it delivers bitterness. We may not even realize the damage it has caused us because we don’t want to admit we struggle. But the more they fester and grow in our spirit the more it produces fruit like resentment, anger, pride, depression, and anxiety.
Someone will always have more, accomplish more, or be more talented than you in certain areas. That is the nature of the world. However, we each possess something of value, something of worth, something someone else might even envy in us without us even realizing it (1 Peter 4:10).
ROOT OF ENVY
Envy isn’t really born from the hatred of other people’s blessings. My research says that envy is stemmed from having distrust in God. Envy can be traced back to disappointment in God. Disappointed because God hasn’t or seemingly won’t give us what we think we deserve. We don’t trust that he knows what is best for us. Distrust in God stems from a lack of knowing his true character. He is infinitely good. He promises to work all things out for our good. And he is love, so everything that he does is done in love. (1 John 4: 8)
Could it be possible that what he has in store for us is far beyond our wildest imagination? Getting to the place of rest where knowing God is enough and that he is for us comes from knowing his true nature. And knowing his true nature comes from spending time with him. (Ephesians 3: 20)
HOW TO OVERCOME ENVY
King David fought envy in Psalms 37 and we will follow his example. Let’s take a look at Psalms 37: 1-9 closer:
Psalms 37: 1-9 says, Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: he will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
Verse 1 tells us to not fret or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither…
We are not keeping the things of this world in the afterlife. We are born with nothing and we leave this world with nothing. What we possess can be gone in a moment. We must focus our time on the eternal things that the Lord can give us and not focus on the things the world can give us.
Verse 3 says to trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
If we trust in the Lord and let him have control over our lives we will enjoy safe pasture.
Verse 4 says to delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
How do we delight ourselves in the Lord? We spend more time with him. Knowing him better will indeed give us delight. And the more time we spend with him the more our heart’s desires will align with God’s desires. We will want what God wants. And that is enough to be free from envy.
Verse 5 says to commit your way to the Lord, and trust in him….
We need to put our complete trust and faith in his control, believing that he can care for us better than we can care for ourselves.
Verse 7 says to be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…..
We need to be willing to wait for his will to come to pass. Do not rush ahead of him. He knows our path better than we do.
Verse 9 says those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
Those whose hope is in the Lord will be blessed.
CONCLUSION
So in conclusion we are to overcome envy by trusting that God knows what he is doing, delight in a God who loves us, commit our ways to God, be still and wait patiently for God, and have hope in a God that will not lead us to disappointment.
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