Comparison = Discontentment

Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.” Psalm 73:12-22

Comparison is often a marker of discontentment. These verses show us the danger of comparing our lives as Christians to those who live outside of a relationship with Jesus. When we consider our own struggles and yet see the wicked flourishing in all they do, living carefree and increasing in wealth, we can become discouraged and distracted with thoughts like, “Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.” How often do we fall into this rabbit hole of thinking? We might ask the same question: surely it makes no difference to be pure and upright because those who are not continue in their wicked ways living carefree and gaining in wealth and successes. Have you ever thought to yourself, “I am doing all God wants me to do: I am living for Him, yet my friend is living without any interest in following God, and they seem successful at every turn? We don’t want to admit those thoughts, but at times, those ideas can creep in and try to steal our attention and our focus. We know our rewards are far greater than earthly treasures, yet we let ourselves get drawn into the lie that it isn’t fair. The thinking that those living for themselves are being rewarded while we suffer for doing good can lead us to envy others. The Bible tells us, “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him” (Psalm 34:8), yet we let our hearts become troubled as we watch the wicked flourish. What do we do when our vision gets skewed and out of focus? Verse 16 is a turning point in this psalm and gives the answer for adjusting our blurred vision: “When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.” Our understanding comes only from the Lord. Entering the sanctuary of God brought clarity. It was there, before the Lord, the psalmist was able to see the truth: the wicked will be cast down to ruin, suddenly destroyed and completely swept away by terrors! You see, it is God who gives us understanding. His word brings wisdom and adjusts the lenses of our heart and mind so that we can see the truth clearly. The psalmist also says, he understood their final destiny. What his eyes showed him as he watched the wicked prosper was only a fraction of the picture. It took going into the sanctuary of God to remind him of that truth and dismantle the comparison that was clouding his vision. When we bring our burdens before the Lord and allow His word to shine the light of clarity on them, we gain new understanding. Psalm 111:10 teaches us, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding…” Friends, when we lock our sight on the things of this world and find our truth in worldly standards, and when we try to line up our inheritance with the world’s fleeting treasures, the full picture goes out of focus. We need to bring our frustrations before the Lord. He will show us the truth of His word and remind us, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:17).

-Jennifer