Day 8 – Envy

“For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.” Job 5:2

Envy – The Intense desire to have something or achieve something someone else has. It causes us to feel incomplete, inferior, imperfect, and constantly needing improvement.

Qinah, (pronounced Kin-aw) is the word for envy in Hebrew, meaning jealousy and zeal.

It does not only apply to possessions or achievements. You can be envious of someone’s relationship with God. Thinking they are closer to God than you are. More loved by Him. More blessed by Him. Thinking “you are missing out on something”.

There was a horrible season in my life when I felt I did not know enough. I thought others were learning and growing closer to God through knowledge and I needed to know what they knew too. I was like a sponge when it came to learning. I had this unexplained desire to learn more than another person about the Bible. But the more I absorbed, the more I forgot, and all the information became an unorganised mess in my mind. It felt like someone opened a drawer of files and spilt the contents on a dusty, wooden floor, with no hope of arranging it back into order. I did not understand what was going on. The more I wanted to “learn and grow”, the more it felt like I was moving further away from God.

“A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones” Proverbs 14:30

It wasn’t until I started studying the different sins that I realised I had envy. My spiritual bones were being rotted by the sin of envy because of my intense desire to learn more about God. Instead of being joyous of the revelations God shared with others, I felt left out. I was so wrapped up in trying to know more and better than anyone, that I completely forgot what it was to achieve spiritual maturity – growing in relationship with God.

Envy, (like other sins) is consuming and your focus is diverted from God to what you think you need. It starts with the small seed of comparison and before you know it, you are envious and trying to surpass those you compared yourself with. In God’s Kingdom (and His will for us in this world) we are all equally loved and blessed.

Prayer: Father, thank You for showing me the sin of envy and teaching me how to overcome this through Jesus. Thank You, Lord, that You are enough and who I am, is enough for You. Grant us the wisdom to identify comparisons and desires of envy and forgive us the times we committed this sin. Amen.

Love, Pastor Iriza