Envy is Foolish

Proverbs 23:17 says, "Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long." The subject of the envy is the sinner. Psalm 73 explains more fully that the reason sinners are envied by the righteous is that they prosper in this world.For example, Ps 73: 12 says, "Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches."

However, in Ps 73:22, the writer says he was foolish and ignorant to envy the wicked. He came to that realization after the Lord showed him that the end of the wicked is destruction.

Ps 37:1-2 gives the same message: "Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb."

Not only is the prosperity of the wicked short-lived, this prosperity does not encompass spiritual prosperity. Isaiah 57:21 says, "There is no peace, saith my God, for the wicked."

Rather than envy the wicked and be a fool, the believer is to fear the Lord and be wise. 1 Ti 6:6 says, "...godliness with contentment is great gain." The antidote to envy, then (as stated is the first Proverb quoted), is to be in the fear of the Lord all the day long. Joshua 1:8 says to meditate in the Word day and night--that is the way to "be in the fear of the Lord all the day long" and that is the way to have "godliness with contentment" and that is the way to find relief from foolish envy. May the Lord be praised!