Watch Your Step!

• What do you think of when you hear the word “prosperity”?

• Describe a time when you saw someone rewarded for bad behavior. How did that make you feel?

But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Psalm 73:2-3

It’s easy to be jealous of someone else’s wealth. It can make us angry to know that someone has acquired wealth through wickedness. We might wonder why, when we work so hard to live the way God wants us to, we still struggle, while other people ignore God and prosper.

Sometimes in this life, it seems that a person can be rewarded for bad behavior. But if you could spend a few minutes in this person’s shoes, you would soon find out that it’s not all that pleasant.

As the psalmist Asaph writes later in Psalm 73, the rewards of wickedness are fleeting, while the rewards of godly living are eternal (see vv. 18-19,24). A life without God is scary and lonely, so don’t be envious of the prosperity of wicked people. Their prosperity is short-lived. As a child of God, you possess a different kind of wealth, a wealth that will last forever.

PRAYER
Dear God, thank you for meeting our needs today. Thank you for giving us a wealth that will last forever. Please help us to not envy the prosperity of wicked people, and please forgive us when we do. Amen.