(Psalm 73:16-28; Job 42: 5, 6; Lamentations 3:20-23)
But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well-nigh slipped, for I was envious of the foolish and arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked (Psalm 73:2, 3).
Why is it that “the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence?” I suppose a cow could answer this question. Sometimes our hearts are so full of self-pity and wants that we become blind to the blessings before us; we keep looking out for it instead in someone’s success and desiring it for ourselves in the spirit of envy and jealousy, as the Psalmist so wrote, But as for me, my feet were almost gone. . . for I was envious of the foolish and arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.. . Until, I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end (Psalm 73:17). In the presence of God the psalmist saw the end of the wicked whom he envied the riches and success. When he realized their end, he also realized his sin of envy and there in the presence of the Lord he repented. He said, For my heart was grieved, embittered, and in a state of ferment, and I was pricked in my heart, so foolish, stupid and brutish was I, and ignorant; I was like a beast before You (vs. 21-22).
Light from the Word 