by Adam Johnson
Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the LORD all the
day. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. Proverbs 23:17-18
In life, it often seems as if people who do everything wrong are rewarded, and we as God's people are overlooked or ridiculed. It is easy to say why do I not have what I want or need, and God just lets those who do not appear to care about God have whatever they desire. However, you look at some of the greatest public figures in our culture, and they have the unhappiest life one can imagine.
The contrast is startling to the man who lives the opposite of the proud and greedy. He is the one who not only fears the LORD occasionally, but it is the one constant in his life that never changes. The man who fears Him does not have time to stare and covet the life of the sinner, but instead has an unchanging goal - to fear and please the One who redeemed him. He also has a blessing for the present and a sure future. Solomon is giving the reader a sure recipe, not for disaster, but for a secure and blessed future.
How do we as God's people obtain this secure future? It is simple - we do not compare our lives to others or desire what they have in life - but instead fix our hearts to obey and fear Him no matter the cost.
Blessed is the man who
walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor
sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of
the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its
season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. Psalm 1:1-3
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