Psalm 73:3,19Â NLT
“For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.” “In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept by terrors.”
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This is for whoever gets discouraged by the success of wrong-doers or wants to envy evil people 🙂
In the world we live in, a lot of people do wrong things and get away with it. Matter of fact, they’re considered cool, ‘bad’, daring, courageous and whatever word used to idolize bad behaviour. And as a girl, you’re caught up in the loop of trends and what’s fab as well. But as a Christian girl, we’re not meant to live the same lives they live so we stand out with our beliefs and maybe just wonder why it all always works out for them despite the life they live and you’re busy keeping your heart pure but seem to be struggling.
Well sis, I got you. In fact, Asaph got you because he felt the same way too.
WARNING! I WAS A LITERATURE STUDENT (MACBETH GANG) SO YOU’RE ABOUT TO HAVE SOME ANALYSIS HERE BUT NOT A LOT BECAUSE I LIKE SIMPLE ENGLISH AND I WANT TO COMMUNICATE CLEARLY!
you may proceed…
In verse 2, Asaph was, oh so dramatic, in telling us that he “almost lost his footing” and he was “almost gone.” As in, he had almost lost track on his goal – his mission. Be cheesy and say his destiny. But that was the reality and he acknowledged it.
In verse 3, our above marked verse, Asaph goes on to tell us why he almost lost his footing and it’s because the “envied the proud and saw them prosper despite their wickedness.” If he found this little thing which may be an everyday thought for some people to be so concerning, I reckon it’s a big deal.
In the next following verses, he further expands on how they prosper saying that “they seem to live such painless lives” and other desirable qualities which people wish to have. Yet this concerned him so much probably because he would expect people not living right, to not enjoy life. It seems like a reasonable equation. Yet why does the rain fall on the godly and the ungodly? Trace it back to caveman terms, do good = live good, do bad = live bad. Asaph said “these fat cats have everything.” And it does seem so. But truly, they don’t.
In verse 13, Asaph takes on a doubting tone, questioning all that he had done over the years and the results that he gets yet someone else is getting away with their wrong. You may be sitting and observing the people around you seeing such injustice and immoral behaviour yet a lack of appropriate response. But you know that it’s wrong and it bothers you so much that you start to question everything – occasionally the relevance of any of your seemingly unrecognized deeds (God sees you tho sis)
Well look no further because the answer is in the WORD!!
Verse 17 is such a wonderful verse because Asaph did what he should have done. He went into God’s sanctuary and only then, did he realize the fate of the wicked. It’s a hectic time to live in and so many things may confuse or make us question but at the end of the day, we find true unadulterated peace with God. So when these kind of thoughts come, we need to shift our eyes from the current situation to the everlasting God. That’s what David did and it seemed to work very well for him.
Verse 19 tells us what exactly happens to those evil people. Where I’m from, some people go into fraud (scamming, phishing, locally called yahoo business or 419 but you get the gist) and seemingly live the high life – the best kind of life. They have all the money, the cars, women/men crawl around them and they seem to have everything. But a lot of the time, in 10 years of less, they would vanish all of a sudden. No more Instagram posts of their latest cars or jewellery. Just vanished. Guess where they went?
Jail/Graves.
Of course, we shouldn’t wish evil for other people but we can’t ignore the reality of the destination of the wicked and by the grace of God, they’ll divert and walk on the right path. So with that in mind, imagine your own destination, o righteous one. Don’t concern yourself with things solely of this world but look above – above the fame, above the money, above the influence. Then consider what really matters to God. Because our lives as Christians align with the life that God has ordained for us.
If you ever get discouraged by the success of wrong-doers, think about where they end up and what truly matters to God – your walk with Him alone.
“My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart;he is mine forever.”
<3
-Blossom
