Comunidad y discipulado

How Envy Ends (Psalm 73:1~3, 16~17, 21~26)

2026.08.16Harold Kim시편 73:1~3, 16~17, 21~26

Envy can strike even the most disciplined believer, and it makes us miserable. It ends when we trace it to its root and bring it into God's sanctuary, where his presence and Christ's grace cure it.

Even Asaph struggled with envy

The Psalms tell us that God wants to bless us and that life is hard but God still reigns. Psalm 73 opens Book Three, the darkest book, and asks why the wicked prosper while I stay pure. Envy is wanting someone else's life. Jealousy is the fear of losing what you have, which is why God is jealous but never envious. Envy strikes hard-working, spiritual people, and it is hard to confess. Yet Asaph, who wrote Scripture, confessed it and nearly lost his faith.

Three miseries: resentment, drama, and hate

Asaph saw the godless with no pangs, fat, proud, violent, and still prospering, and envy stricken him daily. The first misery is that you can never be happy, only resentful. Social media now feeds constant comparison, and envy makes you resent the people whose lives you want. The second is social damage. James 4:1-2 traces quarrels to desires we cannot satisfy. Envious people rejoice when others fail and weep when they rejoice. The third is that envy turns into hate, as with Cain and Abel and with Joseph's brothers.

Trace your envy to its root

The first step is to trace your envy. If someone's wealth bothers you too much, money masters you. If someone's looks or fame get under your skin, image controls you. Like any disease, envy cannot be healed without a diagnosis, and Asaph named his before God. Envy ruined Eden, when Satan hinted that Adam and Eve lacked one more thing. Church people judge outsiders while self-righteousness and its cousin envy grow within. Paul saw his own envy in the tenth commandment, and the law drove him to Jesus.

In God's sanctuary, see their end (vv. 16-17)

Asaph was miserable until he entered the sanctuary of God. There he discerned the end of the wicked: they stand in slippery places and are swept away by death, which comes for all. Ecclesiastes 7:2 says it is better to go to the house of mourning, like smelling salts that wake us from the dream that we can live as we want. Following Jesus is really hard, but living for anything else is far more slippery. Beauty, strength, spouse, and children all slip away, but God never does.

Cured by the presence of God and Christ's grace (vv. 21-26)

Asaph says he was brutish and ignorant like a beast before God. We cannot out-think envy, trick ourselves free, or educate it away. Asaph was cured by God's nearness in worship, so we should pray, "God, if you are real, come close and heal me." In the sanctuary the sacrificed beast pointed to Christ. No one suffered more injustice than Jesus, whom God let slip away so that we would never slip. The grace of God in Christ kills envy and replaces it with praise: "God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

Apply to Life

  • Let us confess our envy honestly before God instead of hiding it.
  • Let us trace what makes us most envious and ask what really controls our hearts.
  • Let us rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, rather than gossiping about those who are ahead of us.
  • Let us bring our envy into God's presence through worship and prayer, asking him to come near and heal us.
  • Let us remember that God gave up Jesus so that we would never slip away, and let us live for him alone.

This summary was made automatically from the sermon's captions and may differ from the sermon.

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