One cannot wonder why bad things happen to good people without also feeling the same shade of injustice when we contemplate why good things happen to bad people. This is the question that distressed the psalmist. He found himself in terrible anguish and agony of soul. He says, “My feet had almost slipped; I had almost lost my footing.”

The psalmist was experiencing a very old problem; one that is still with us today. He had begun to observe the prosperity of the wicked. He began to notice that the ungodly, the unregenerate, the unrepentant; those who had no need of God, those who did not recognize God or believe in God; that they did their own thing, they lived for themselves, they behaved as they pleased, they seemed to be having a good time in this world. The unbelievers who made and lived by their own rules, played their own songs and danced to their own music were enjoying all the riches and pleasures of the world, while he himself, a pious man, was having a very difficult and hard time. . He laments: “They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.” Nothing seemed to be wrong with the wicked. It seemed as if by some special privilege they were exempt from the stresses and struggles of daily life. They are always enjoying prosperity. But as for himself, he says: “Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been flogged, I have been punished every morning.”

The psalmist wondered why he was having so many problems in his life, while the wicked had none. So he started thinking about it and reflecting on it until it became an obsession. He was about to say what many of us wonder, is there something to religion? Is there any point in trying to live the Christian life? Is it worth trying to live well, do the right thing and walk well? Is there any purpose in trying to live a godly life?

The psalmist, like all of us, was tempted by the Evil One. Satan wants us to reject Christ and all that He stands for. Envy is his deceitful tool that he uses to turn us away from godly living. To envy is to desire what one does not have. It can be wealth, talent, good looks, intelligence, youth and a thousand other things. Envy makes us mean and mean to those we envy.

Matthew tells us that it was out of envy that the people handed Jesus over to Pilate and demanded that he be crucified. Jesus said that envy comes from within and contaminates a person. Paul said, love is not envious and those who are envious will not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul told Titus (and us) “we ourselves also were once foolish, disobedient, misguided, enslaved to various lusts and delights, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” But when we find salvation; when we experience the love of God our Savior, when we experience his mercy and forgiveness, rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, all those old things passed away and all things became new. The envy passed and was replaced by the love of God in Jesus Christ. James tells us: “If you have bitter envy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast or lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which descends from above, but is earthly, sensual, diabolical. Because where envy and egoism exist, confusion and all bad things are there”.

If you find yourself experiencing feelings of envy, stop and have a serious talk with yourself. This is what the psalmist did. He found himself on the slippery slopes of envy, but he began to talk to himself. He didn’t say a word to anyone, but he said to himself, “Indeed, God is good to Israel, to the pure in heart.” The psalmist was saved from an awkward position. He was falling for Satan’s strategy but he was talking to himself. He said to himself, “Now if I say this, if I say what I feel, I will offend the children of God.” So he took a stand. He couldn’t understand, so he took a stand on what he knew to be right. This kept him firm and prevented him from drifting away from the faith.

There are many times that we do not understand what is happening to us; when we do not understand our experiences; when we don’t understand how providence works. But, if we simply take a stand on what we know to be right, it will keep us from falling.

The psalmist continues and affirms that when “he entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood the final destiny of him. He began to understand that he need not be envious of the prosperity of the wicked because their prosperity is actually an illusion. He began to understand that the former deceiver had played a trick on him with the vision of him and used his hand to distract him from the reality of God.

But after entering the sanctuary, the psalmist realized that prosperity is nothing more than an image, a fashion show of what is going to happen; like a pleasant dream that pleases us only for a moment, while we sleep, but when we wake up, we discover that it was not real. The psalmist then admonishes himself for his own stupidity. He said: “I was foolish and ignorant” to envy the wicked; be jealous of those who perish. His thoughts then returned to his own happiness in God as he realized how much more he had in the Creator.

We don’t need to worry when good things happen to bad people. We keep our focus on God, our Creator.

Biblical reference: Psalms 73.

Sidebar Quote: Hate is active, and ENVY is passive, aversion; there is only one step from ENVY to hate. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe