Green with envy, UNTIL...

You may know the feeling.  One day, you notice that your next-door neighbor has a fancier car than you.  Or you notice that your friend just got the newest model of the iPhone.  Or you're talking to someone whose house is bigger than yours.  Then there's that guy at work who seems to have a more peaceful life than yours.  Or that woman in your book group who just seems to know more than you.  Or that person at school whom everyone likes and who is more popular than you, or cooler than you.

Maybe it doesn't happen all the time, but every now and then you notice ways that other people have more than you, or are better than you at something, or seem to have an easier time with life.

You notice these things, and almost in spite of yourself, envy creeps into your life.  You find yourself feeling jealous.  You wish you had what they had.  You start comparing your life with their life, and your life comes up short.  And on top of everything else, if you've ever been taught, "Thou shalt not be jealous," then you start feeling badly about yourself for feeling jealous.  Geesh.

If jealousy ever creeps into your life, I want to introduce you to Psalm 73, because it was written for all of us who ever get jealous.  (And if you never have trouble with jealousy or envy, then I want to talk with you and find out your secret!!)  Pretty much right in the middle of the book of Psalms is #73.  The fact that Psalm 73 is close to the center of the Psalms may indicate that our ancestors in the faith realized that jealousy is not a peripheral issue; it can be central for us at times.

Jealousy is not a pretty feeling.  We may think it's not a "Christian" feeling.  But it sure is a human feeling, and Christians can feel jealous, just like anyone else.  So whether we like it or not, we need to learn how to deal with it.

At this point, I'd invite you to get out your Bible and turn to Psalm 73.  Or if you want to look at Psalm 73 on-line, you can go here.  Either way, go ahead, we'll wait for you to turn to it. ...

"I was envious of the arrogant; I saw the prosperity of the wicked," the psalmist writes in verse 3.  "They have no pain; their bodies are sound and sleek.  They are not in trouble as others are."  You can tell that the psalmist has been watching "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous."  These are the people who go out to glamorous parties, and they always look spectacular.  They're always smiling, their teeth are perfect, their skin glows with a perfect tan, they've got gazillions of dollars, and everyone wants to be close to them.  They're so lucky!!

In contrast, the psalmist has spent lots of time trying to do the right thing, but it hasn't paid off.  "All in vain I have kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.  For all day long I have been plagued" (vs. 13-14).  Do you ever feel like you try to do the right thing, try to live a faithful life, but then you look around and other people -- who are not nearly as worried about doing the right thing -- are getting way ahead?  If you're like me, when you see this sort of thing, you think, "AAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHH."

Well, that's what the psalmist thought, too, and thinking about this "seemed to me a wearisome task" (v. 16).  The psalmist just couldn't make sense of it.  It was driving the psalmist crazy.

"UNTIL I went into the sanctuary of God" (verse 17).  Verse 17 is the verse that changes everything for this psalm.  Things didn't make sense until the psalmist brought his jealousy to God.  Things didn't make sense until the psalmist carried her envy into the presence of God. 

"Then I perceived their end."  Once the psalmist came intentionally and consciously into God's presence, the psalmist was able to perceive that the rich and famous may not be all that happy.  Their lives may, in fact, be empty on the inside.  Their lives may be crushed by the weight of their stardom and all of those flashbulbs going off every time they go outside.  Their lives may not be so enviable after all.  They may need your prayers more than they need your envy or your contempt.

Even our "local" jealousies can be put into perspective when we bring them before God.  Your slightly older iPhone may be working just fine.  You may not be able to recite all the details that your fellow book-club member knows, but you can share what you do know, and you can be thankful and appreciative of how much she knows.  You can realize that other people have their life to live, and you are only asked to live your life, and to be faithful with what you have.  The psalmist writes, "Nevertheless I am continually with you; you hold my right hand....There is nothing on earth that I desire other than you." (vs. 23, 25).

Jealousy and envy can exert a huge amount of pressure on us.  They can make us feel badly about ourselves, they can make us think we're not worth a whole lot, and they can cause us to overlook and ignore the beautiful things that are in our lives right now.  They can make us feel badly UNTIL we "go into the sanctuary," which is biblical language for turning to God in prayer.  Prayer and worship are the primary spiritual practices that keep us properly oriented towards God.  And when we re-orient ourselves towards God, jealousy and envy can dissolve away.  And we can feel our faces becoming a little less green...