Why Do People Who Ignore God Seem To Be Doing Better Than Me?

Asaph, the man who wrote Psalm 73, almost stopped trusting God when he saw people who ignored God doing better than him.

He was jealous of their success.

The Psalm calls them "wicked." Asaph isn't talking about somebody who has doubts or misses church. He describes proud people who speak against God and still prosper.

They had the money, health, or easier life he wanted.

Somebody can ignore God and still have more money than we do. Their relationship can work out while ours falls apart.

They can get the opportunity we've been praying for.

Psalm 73 doesn't tell us to call any of that fake.

Asaph's problem wasn't that he noticed their lives looked better. His problem was what he decided their success meant about God.

By verse 13, Asaph says he had kept his heart clean "in vain." Basically, he was starting to think living for God had been pointless.

This is where envy gets dangerous, because we take one part of somebody's life and use it to decide whether God cares about us.

They have what I want, so God must have forgotten me.

They ignored God and still got it, so living for God must not matter.

The turn comes later in the same Psalm:

"Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction."

Psalm 73:17-18 (KJV)

The "sanctuary" was a place of worship.

When Asaph went there, the people he envied were still prospering.

Their money didn't change. His understanding and heart did.

Asaph finally understood "their end," which means the final outcome of the path they were on. "Slippery places" means their prosperity was not secure, and "destruction" means God would bring their proud path to an end.

The Psalm doesn't tell us exactly when or how that end would come, so we don't need to guess. It doesn't promise they'll lose their money next week.

Its point is that present comfort was never proof their path was safe.

Prosperity can show us what somebody has right now.

It can't tell us that God approves of how they live. It also can't measure God's care for us.
Asaph didn't do this out of hate either. He just wanted clarity and received it as soon as he turned back to God.

After his understanding changes, Asaph also sees what he had missed about his own life. A few verses later, he says God had been holding him by the right hand and would guide him.

While Asaph had been watching what the other people had, he missed what was true in his own life.

God hadn't left him. God was holding him.

The Psalm's answer isn't that those people were secretly doing worse in every part of life. Sometimes the person we're watching really does have more in the area where we feel empty.

That one area can't tell you what is true about God.

When you think, "They're doing better than me," finish the sentence. Better in what way?

Say it honestly. Maybe they have more money, the relationship you wanted, or the opportunity you've been praying for.

Stop before you turn what they have into proof that God doesn't care about you. Their life can't answer that question.

Bring the exact envy to God before it pulls you away from Him.

Here's how to do that today:

1. Finish the sentence.

Tell God, "I'm jealous of ___ because ___." Use the person's name and say what they have that you want.

2. Read Psalm 73 from beginning to end.

Pay attention to what Asaph saw and what he decided it meant. Notice what he understood after he went to God.

3. Ask God to guide you in your own need.

Tell Him what you're still waiting for. Ask Him to keep somebody else's life from becoming the measure of His care for you.

PRAYER

Father God, I've been watching people who ignore You and wondering why their lives look better than mine.

I've been jealous of what they have and tired of waiting in my own life.

I've used their success to decide that You must have forgotten me.

Thank You for holding Asaph even while his attention had been pulled away from You.

Today I bring You the person I've been comparing myself to and the success I envy.

Help me be honest about what they have without making it mean You don't care about me.

Hold me steady in my own need.

Guide me while I wait.

Keep my envy from pulling me away from You.

In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen.