“Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart” (Psalm 73:1 ESV).
These opening words summarize the conclusion of Asaph’s struggle with “the prosperity of the wicked” (v. 3) amidst the sufferings of believers in this psalm. This struggle has been, felt by every believer in various degrees, and our response to it is not of mere philosophical interest and should not be taken lightly. Asaph almost fell into terrible danger when he “[envied]... the arrogant” (v. 3), and, through these verses, God seeks to warn us of the peril of such thinking.
But why is envying the prosperity and ease of unbelievers so bad?
Most importantly, it maligns God and His character, suggesting that He does not truly love and care for His people. Notice that such a lie is thoroughly unbiblical (e.g., Romans 8:28-39; Ephesians 1:3-14, 2:1-10; Psalm 23) and has been used by Satan from the beginning (Genesis 3:5). It is the sentiment of the Israelites who, despite their deliverance from the bondage of slavery, considered the things of Egypt greater than their journey amid God’s presence (Numbers 11:4-6, 14:3-4). Such perverse sentiments should make us shudder. Let us also note what a short walk it is from envying the wicked to practical atheism, which denies that God “rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6), and even despising God.
When we envy the wicked, we effectively say that it is better to live a life of sin and rebellion than one of faith, growing in holiness and glorifying God. If we find ourselves thinking this way, alarm bells should be going off, lest we continue in this path, fall away, and “[trample] underfoot the Son of God, and [profane] the blood of the covenant by which [we are] sanctified and [outrage] the Spirit of grace” (Hebrews 10:29).
How do we know, though, that God is uniquely good to His people?
The first reason the Psalmist gives is that destruction will befall unbelievers. While calamities do strike some unbelievers in this life, all those who do not repent and believe in Jesus will face eternal punishment in Hell (Matthew 25:46; John 8:24, 14:6; Acts 4:12; 2 Thessalonians 1:9).
“For what will it profit a man,” Jesus said, “if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
If we truly believed this, we would find it foolish to envy the ungodly. I assure you that none of those who failed to board the Titanic ultimately envied those who did, yet this is a pitiful comparison to the prospect of eternal damnation! Because we do not look with an eternal perspective, we so often fail to see what a strange thing it is to envy the condemned.
This is a very good reason not to envy unbelievers, but it may not excite Christians about God’s goodness to them. Many often feel that God has not treated them as He ought.
But what, I ask, do you deserve from God? The answer is not what we want to hear: Hell.
We, too, “were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:3). Yet God, according to His grace and nothing we have done, saved us (Ephesians 2:4, 2 Timothy 1:9). We who were once God’s enemies (Romans 5:10) and children of the devil (1 John 3:10, Ephesians 2:1-3) have now been reconciled to God by the blood of Jesus (Romans 5:9-11), born again by the Spirit (Ephesians 1:13), united to Christ (Romans 6:4-5) and are children of God (John 1:12).
As Paul writes, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14).
The wrath of God that we deserved was poured out on Jesus on the cross (Romans 3:24-26, Isaiah 53:4-6) so that our sins would be forgiven and we can now stand reconciled and have peace with God (Romans 5:1). By believing and trusting in Christ’s wholly sufficient and finished work (Hebrews 10:10-18), we have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1) not because of our moral record — before or after conversion — but because our standing is secure since we rest in Christ’s atoning work and His righteousness (cf. Romans 4:4-8).
It is a terrible thing that many Christians, myself certainly included, who understand this, who realize that even our best works deserve Hell and who rest in a salvation that is purely by grace alone, treat “such a great salvation” (Hebrews 2:3) as a small thing. When we read lengthy verses in Scripture describing it, we often begin to skim through the words; this is to our utter shame. What makes it worse is our sheer excitement about so many other things that draw so much of our attention, passion and love, simply do not matter.
But when the Christian turns from such things again and again and beholds Christ, he can see nothing more lovely.
The world cannot truly understand why Jesus — the true, biblical Jesus — is lovely, but the Christian, through the Spirit’s working in him, does. He is the pearl of great price, the One who created and sustains all things, the Bread of life, the Light of the world, our great High Priest, the Lamb of God, the King of kings, the coming Judge and the Savior of sinners. If a man is united to Him, he has everything; if he is not, he has nothing. Christian, Jesus is our Shepherd, and we “shall not want” (Psalm 23:1, cf. John 10:11).
But even more, He is infinitely glorious and beautiful and all that truly matters. Let us pray that we will see that and believe it more deeply.
Andrew Sveda is a senior at Notre Dame from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, majoring in political science and theology. In his free time, he enjoys writing (obviously), reading and playing the piano. He can be reached at asveda@nd.edu or @SvedaAndrew on Twitter.
