Proverbs 23:17-18
"17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but [be zealous] for the fear of the LORD all the day; 18 For surely there is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut off.”
It is the waiting that usually causes us to envy. We pray for something or believe for something and the wicked one causes a delay in the answers manifestation and then he points out that someone else has received what we want. Usually that someone is a sinner and the devil makes sure that we know about it. The intent behind this is that we will look at this other person’s life and see that they are not following God. This is where envy begins to creep in. It’s not really them that we envy, it’s what they have that we do not yet possess in the natural. This is dangerous because when envying enters, there enters confusion and every evil work {James 3:16}. Our hearts will begin to think wickedly and inquire of us as to why we waste our time doing righteously when the sinner we are observing lives like hell and gets the answer we have waited for. The next step is equally as dangerous in that it entices us to abandon our righteous walk and adopt the world system in order to obtain the things that the world loves. At this point we have chosen the world over God and have forgotten that we were cleansed of our old sin. There is now a very short distance between where we are and attempting to crucify the Lord of Glory again. We cannot allow our hearts to envy sinners because it is a trick to entice us to stray from the words of knowledge. Envy will open the door to confusion about the truth of what God said. “Has God indeed said that He will provide all of our needs and give us the desires of our hearts?” The demon will begin to whisper. Then once we heed that voice, the evil one can come into our lives and kill, steal, and destroy them.
I am presently reminded by the Lord of the story of David and Bathsheba. After the sins of David had been committed, God said to David in 2 Samuel 12:8 that if all God had given David had been too little, then He would have given him much more!!! All David had to do was ask but David envied what Uriah had in his wife Bathsheba and so the deceiver came in and destroyed lives.
Walk away from envy by first examining your heart. Why do you want a certain thing? Go to God and ask Him to give it to you instead of allowing confusion to come in and cause you to rebel against the Word of the Lord wherein He told you that it is His good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
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