Psalm 73:3-12 English Standard Version
3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.
7 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.
8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them.
11 And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.
We are all subject to emotions for better or for worse. Searching for biblical examples is a daunting task as the history of mankind is fraught with extremes of emotions. If we are to control our emotions rather than becoming victims of them, we must choose wisely the examples set before us.
Here in the Psalm of Asaph we find a confession of condition that might allow us to look at both sides of emotions, controlled and lack of control.
Beginning with prosperity, it is the wicked heart that suborns arrogance in the face of success. The confession of Asaph of envy is aimed at arrogance and not on prosperity. Most of us have not tasted prosperity to the point of being in danger of arrogance. We can however relate to envy at the success of others.
What if that success we envy is in the area of spiritual gifts? Surely it cannot be wrong to desire to be successful in service gifts?
What if those gifts are neither natural nor born of the spirit in us? Is it right to be envious of gifts that we do not possess?