Envy: Prov. 24:19-20. Nov. 26. 2006
Proverbs M11 Envy, text Proverbs 24:19-20
Big Idea: We can overcome envy as we look up to God and ahead to eternity.
He’s happily married to a woman he is attracted to and loves. He works as a high school teacher and coaches the senior girls’ basketball team. He makes a modest salary, but he likes his work. He lives in a reasonably good neighborhood and his children attend public schools that are considered above average.
All in all, he considers his life… pretty good…
(If this scenario bears any resemblance to someone you actually know, that is purely coincidence)
The man receives an invitation to attend the 20th reunion of his college graduating class. Curious as to how his classmates are doing, he attends.
He discovers that some of his university friends, who didn’t outshine him academically as an undergraduate, are in more prestigious and better paying jobs than he is in.
He notices that some of his friends’ who weren’t as popular in college as he was, have spouses who seem more sophisticated and others have spouses that seem more sexy and dress more provocatively than his own partner.
He learns some of their kids are attending elite, private schools.
As he sits on the plane coming home, he has this gnawing sense that he doesn’t quite measure up… He wonders, “Am I a failure?” He asks himself whether he “settled” when it came to picking a marriage partner. He begins to doubt whether he is providing his kids with an adequate education.
Nothing, of course, has actually changed his life… but as he compares himself to his peers who by “society’s standards” are better off envy rears its head and sucks the joy out of his life….
This morning as we continue our series in the book of Proverbs, a book of wisdom, we’re going to look at the nature of envy, how it hurts us, and how we overcome it.
Envy is considered the most pervasive, but least admitted to of the 7 deadly sins…
Envy seems to be experienced at some level by almost everyone, but we don’t want to admit we’re envious because it makes us seems so petty.
Envy begins from the time we are very young…
We envy kids who have nicer toys—she has Play Station 3 and I don’t, we envy kids that are prettier or get invited to a party we didn’t, we envy kids who get better grades, kids who get more first place ribbons on sports day…
You might think we might outgrow our envy… but envy shadows us throughout life…
As adults we can envy people’s education, careers, status, net worth, stuff, appearance, partners, families, children...
Envy, as we’ve noted, is the most pervasive of the Seven Deadly sins, but least admitted to…
It may be that at some level we struggle with envy but are in denial…
Envy can be expressed in different ways.
If it bothers us that someone else in our field succeeds ahead of us… that may be a sign of envy…
Sir John Gielgud the gifted British actor who specialized in Shakespearean roles, said in very candid autobiographical piece, “When Laurance Olivier played Hamlet, and critics raved, I wept.”
Do we ever have a hard time when someone in our field is recognized in some way? It’s understandable if it bothers us if someone in our field is honored and they don’t deserve it… but if the person who is honored really does deserve the honor…and it bothers us, it’s likely we’re experiencing envy.
Conversely, do we secretly rejoice in someone else’s downfall? It’s one thing to be glad when a business person is caught for insider trading or a teacher is caught having sex with his high school students… they had it coming to them! We think. But are we secretly comforted because of the failure of someone who’s a pretty good person? It’s a sign of envy.
We see a person in Psalm 73, wrestling with envy… He sees that many of the wicked were prospering… they have sleek, healthy bodies, they don designer clothes….
They’ve amassed a fortune, largely because of their unscrupulous business practices… The Psalmist envies them… he thinks my being a good guy, playing by the rules have gotten me nowhere… except a run of bad luck. He asks, “Where’s God? Is he out for lunch? No one seems to be minding the store.”
The man then says (in vs. 21) my heart became grieved and my spirit embittered with envy…
Envy is joy sucker.
Other sins destroy us too, but at least there is some enjoyment to them…
There can be pleasure in expressing anger, a kick to succumbing to lust, and it can feel good to surrender to the sin of sloth, being a lazy bum… but there’s NO pleasure in envy. It just eats away at us…
According to Proverbs 14:30 it rots the bones…
Professor Solomon Schimmel notes that envy is like hissing hot coals or like poison spreading through the body (think of the image of Russian spy who was poisoned and died)…
Vincent Foster was an aide to President Clinton. Part of the reason he took his own life was revealed in a suicide note he wrote. In a note found in Vincent Foster's briefcase after his suicide: "I was not meant for the job in Washington… Here ruining people is considered sport." It’s miserable to envy others and it’s miserable being in such an envious climate that people have resort to tear other down.
If you have a Bible please turn to Proverbs 23:17
This part of the Proverbs is an anthology within the Proverbs called the 30 saying of the wise. The father yearns for his son or daughter to know these truths deeply with both their mind and heart.
Proverbs 23:17:
Saying 15 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD.
The father says don’t let your heart envy sinners but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord.
He’s saying don’t envy sinners and people in general. Instead look to God and live in awe before God. Reverently submit to the wisdom of God’s revealed word.
In Proverbs 24:19-20 we have another important saying:
Saying 20 Do not envy the wicked, do not desire their company;
19 Do not fret because of evildoers
or be envious of the wicked,
20 for the evildoer has no future hope,
and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.
One of the ways we overcome envy is to look to God and by reverently submitting to his wisdom.
Another way we overcome envy is to focus on the fact that the evil doer has no future hope (Proverbs 24:20).
In Psalm 73, the Psalmist says I was grieved and embittered when I saw the wicked prosper, until I discovered their feet were on slippery ground… and that they would one day slide into a ditch of destruction.
But the righteous have a future hope.
Proverbs 12:28 says…
In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality. 2x.
The righteous person may experience suffering, but they have a future hope… and eternal joy that awaits them.
When the Psalmist enters the presence of God he realizes that while the wicked will vanish like a dream, those who walk with God will be taken up to glory.
So how does looking up to God and reverently submitting to His truth help us stamp out envy?
How does focusing the eye of our heart ahead to eternity help us overcome envy?
When we focus on God’s truth and on eternity we will see what is truly valuable.
If we understand what is really valuable we can overcome envy.
The great teachers answer the questions “Who is truly well off? “Who is truly wealthy?”
Jesus in Luke 16:15 said what is highly valued among people is not necessarily valued by God. He said what is highly valued among people may be detestable to God.
Some times we envy others because we think they have something really valuable when in fact it may not be.
What we think is really valuable may not be valued by God.
For example, people tend to think that material wealth, status, or physical appearance are all really important… none of these things is highly valued by God…
What we think is really valuable may not even be valued by the person who has what we value and envy and, ironically, they may value what we have.
The cliché is true: the grass is often greener on the other side…
A person who is a social worker may envy his sister who is corporate executive because she makes a six figure base salary plus a stock option and has a job that is considered powerful and prestigious.
The “successful” sister, however, may envy the brother who is a high school teacher because, his life seems less stressful and he has more time for friends and family than she does.
My younger brother has worked as an actor and playwright and as a writer and commentator for radio and television. My brother has said, “Sometimes I’ll go by a construction site and I envy the people work there… Their jobs seem more straightforward… They do their work and go home… whereas I’m wondering whether I’ll be able to come up with anything creative by my broadcast deadline…”
I wonder if some construction workers particularly when they’re working in the cold and rain would envy my brother’s work and would prefer to be on the radio or t.v.
Sometimes we experience envy because we consider something to be ultimately valuable—when it is not valued by God and perhaps not even valued by the person who we are envying.
So, part of the way to overcome envy is to transcend what the culture has to say about who is well to do… who is wealthy and to look to God and what he says is true wealth…
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount says, blessed or truly well off are the poor in spirit for theirs is in the Kingdom of God… if we really come to understand… that lasting wealth is in knowing God and becoming instrument of His purposes… we can overcome envy…
How does the envier in Psalm 73 overcome envy?
The envier in Psalm 73 eventually overcomes envy by coming to conclusion that he has the great wealth in God:
He declares in vss. 25-26
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
And when he realizes just how rich he is in God he’s able to overcome his envy.
2) A second way to overcome envy is to resist the temptation to compare our self with someone else and embrace the uniqueness of our call.
Part of the reason the Psalmist in Psalm 73 experienced envy to begin was because he compared his life to the carefree lives of the arrogant and wicked… who seemed to have no burdens… and easy success.
In the end of the Gospel Jesus says to Peter, “I'm telling you the very truth now: When you were young you dressed yourself and went wherever you wished, but when you get old you'll have to stretch out your hands while someone else dresses you and takes you where you don't want to go." He said this to hint at the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And then Peter replies what about John? What kind of death will he die? Jesus says, "What is that to you, ‘Follow me.’"
Like Peter, sometimes we can be preoccupied with God’s plan for someone else when God is calling us to our unique path which may not be the path He is calling your sister or brother to travel…
I never tire of quoting Rabbi Zusha who says, “In the next world, God will not ask me, ‘Why were you not Moses?’ He’ll ask me, ‘Why were you not Zushya?’”
Sometimes perhaps we want a call that involves less suffering, less waiting more “material blessing” or more glamour, more time in late November in a warm, tropical place. But God has a unique call for us, and if we belong to God he will work out everything for our eternal good (Romans 8:28).
We can overcome envy by looking up to God and resisting the temptation to compare and embrace your unique call and understand what true wealth is…
3) Be grateful.
So many people ask what is God’s will for me? A significant part of God’s call for us is to become people who give thanks. Paul in 1 Thess 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Thomas Merton, a deeply insightful writer on the spiritual life, has said, “Gratitude is the heart of the Christian life.”
According to Gordon Smith, an associate member here and writer on the spiritual life, the most important heart posture for a healthy spiritual life is gratitude.
It would be hard to exaggerate the role of gratitude in the Christian life.
This past week I came across a story of an upper middle class man who made it his practice of taking his children to poorest slums in his city.
He had several purposes in exposing his children to the poverty, helplessness, and despair that were evident in the run-down neighborhoods they would walk through. He wanted his children to develop a sense of compassion and to develop a sense of social justice. He wanted his kids to know that to be aware of the fundamental similarity between them and people who lived in great poverty.
Then after his kids had grown up… this man said this excursion had an unintended side benefit. The trips made his kids much more appreciative of what they had in this life, so as adults they were much less prone to envy others who had grown up in affluent suburbia.
Francis de Sales says, “The immature are unhappy with what they don’t have. (They are always comparing themselves with people who seem to have more).
The mature are happy with what they do have.”
One of the parents last week asked me to pray that their child would be content.
I want to be a content person too, and a content person is a grateful person.
I often find myself praying the prayer of George Herbert. “You have given me so much. Give me just one more thing, a grateful heart.”
As we look up to God and focus on what is truly valuable, resist the temptation to compare ourselves with others and embrace our unique call…and we can become grateful people we can overcome envy.
Finally…
4) Look to eternity
Proverbs 23 and 24 calls us look up to God’s truth and look ahead to eternity and overcome envy.
Psalm 73…the Psalmist says
In vs. 17
I was beleaguered and bitter,
totally consumed by envy,
I was totally ignorant, a dumb ox
Until I entered the sanctuary of God, i.e. God’s presence
And I understood that the wicked were destined for destruction and that God would take me and all who walk with God into an eternal glory…
If you know what’s coming is the complete fulfillment of your desires, you can overcome envy.
J.R.R. Tolkien envied C.S. Lewis. Why? Because, in 1937 Tolkien had said to Lewis let’s write the kind of fiction that we really want to read. During the following 2 decades C.S. Lewis wrote Space Trilogy book I, book, II, book III, the Chronicles of Narnia books 1-7 and Tolkien kept writing and re-writing one book…
Tolkien for years kept working on a book he thought he’d never finish, because never felt he could tell the story he aspired to tell..… Toliken envied Lewis for being able to complete his books.
He wrote and re-wrote all the chapters of the Lord of the Rings numerous times because he never liked it. It was never good enough. It was never as great as he hoped it would be.
In the 1940s he got so frustrated with his artistic incompetence that he got writer’s block and stopped working on the Lord of the Rings.
One night he had a dream and wrote the dream into a story and wrote it down and afterwards he was ok.
The story is called Leaf by Niggle and it’s a story about an artist called Niggle and the town fathers commission him to do a mural on the side of the town hall. He worked on the mural for years… he was trying to paint a tree… but after all those years--all he had done was one leaf in the corner of the canvas…. The town fathers said we paid you all that money to do this mural and it looks terrible. A leaf! He said, “I’m trying, I’m trying.”
Then he died and he was on a train to paradise and as he was getting close to paradise and he suddenly saw something on a hill. He said, “Stop the train.” He ran up to the top of the hill and this is what we read, “Before him stood the tree… his tree finished! Its leaves opening, its branches bending in the wind, that Niggle had so often felt and guessed, but had often failed to catch. He gazed at the tree and he lifted his arms and opened them wide. It’s a gift he said.
Tolkien through this dream realized there is a real tree and suddenly everyone is going to see it. He thought to himself there’s a story that I’m trying to tell and of course, I’ll never get it out in this lifetime, but some day I will and some day everyone is going to see that story…
Toliken was a Christian and he believed in the resurrection. When he realized one day we would be in a place where the deepest desires of our heart are going to be met… and when we live in that hope we can handle the incompleteness we now feel and overcome our frustration and envy.
Many of us like Tolkien feel frustrated, like our life work is not being done…we have not fully used our gifts and blessed people as we’d like…
In the film version of Babette’s Feast someone says to one of the Phillipa the sister with the singing gifts for the ages whose talent was never widely celebrated because she was stuck in a small, poor village says, “In paradise, you will be the truly great artist you were created to be.”
When we realize that the yearnings of our heart that are never fully met here, will be realized in eternity, when we value what God values, embrace our unique call and cultivate a heart of gratitude we can be free of envy and live with joy.
(The sermon can be heard on line at: http://www.tenth.ca/audio htm)
Big Idea: We can overcome envy as we look up to God and ahead to eternity.
He’s happily married to a woman he is attracted to and loves. He works as a high school teacher and coaches the senior girls’ basketball team. He makes a modest salary, but he likes his work. He lives in a reasonably good neighborhood and his children attend public schools that are considered above average.
All in all, he considers his life… pretty good…
(If this scenario bears any resemblance to someone you actually know, that is purely coincidence)
The man receives an invitation to attend the 20th reunion of his college graduating class. Curious as to how his classmates are doing, he attends.
He discovers that some of his university friends, who didn’t outshine him academically as an undergraduate, are in more prestigious and better paying jobs than he is in.
He notices that some of his friends’ who weren’t as popular in college as he was, have spouses who seem more sophisticated and others have spouses that seem more sexy and dress more provocatively than his own partner.
He learns some of their kids are attending elite, private schools.
As he sits on the plane coming home, he has this gnawing sense that he doesn’t quite measure up… He wonders, “Am I a failure?” He asks himself whether he “settled” when it came to picking a marriage partner. He begins to doubt whether he is providing his kids with an adequate education.
Nothing, of course, has actually changed his life… but as he compares himself to his peers who by “society’s standards” are better off envy rears its head and sucks the joy out of his life….
This morning as we continue our series in the book of Proverbs, a book of wisdom, we’re going to look at the nature of envy, how it hurts us, and how we overcome it.
Envy is considered the most pervasive, but least admitted to of the 7 deadly sins…
Envy seems to be experienced at some level by almost everyone, but we don’t want to admit we’re envious because it makes us seems so petty.
Envy begins from the time we are very young…
We envy kids who have nicer toys—she has Play Station 3 and I don’t, we envy kids that are prettier or get invited to a party we didn’t, we envy kids who get better grades, kids who get more first place ribbons on sports day…
You might think we might outgrow our envy… but envy shadows us throughout life…
As adults we can envy people’s education, careers, status, net worth, stuff, appearance, partners, families, children...
Envy, as we’ve noted, is the most pervasive of the Seven Deadly sins, but least admitted to…
It may be that at some level we struggle with envy but are in denial…
Envy can be expressed in different ways.
If it bothers us that someone else in our field succeeds ahead of us… that may be a sign of envy…
Sir John Gielgud the gifted British actor who specialized in Shakespearean roles, said in very candid autobiographical piece, “When Laurance Olivier played Hamlet, and critics raved, I wept.”
Do we ever have a hard time when someone in our field is recognized in some way? It’s understandable if it bothers us if someone in our field is honored and they don’t deserve it… but if the person who is honored really does deserve the honor…and it bothers us, it’s likely we’re experiencing envy.
Conversely, do we secretly rejoice in someone else’s downfall? It’s one thing to be glad when a business person is caught for insider trading or a teacher is caught having sex with his high school students… they had it coming to them! We think. But are we secretly comforted because of the failure of someone who’s a pretty good person? It’s a sign of envy.
We see a person in Psalm 73, wrestling with envy… He sees that many of the wicked were prospering… they have sleek, healthy bodies, they don designer clothes….
They’ve amassed a fortune, largely because of their unscrupulous business practices… The Psalmist envies them… he thinks my being a good guy, playing by the rules have gotten me nowhere… except a run of bad luck. He asks, “Where’s God? Is he out for lunch? No one seems to be minding the store.”
The man then says (in vs. 21) my heart became grieved and my spirit embittered with envy…
Envy is joy sucker.
Other sins destroy us too, but at least there is some enjoyment to them…
There can be pleasure in expressing anger, a kick to succumbing to lust, and it can feel good to surrender to the sin of sloth, being a lazy bum… but there’s NO pleasure in envy. It just eats away at us…
According to Proverbs 14:30 it rots the bones…
Professor Solomon Schimmel notes that envy is like hissing hot coals or like poison spreading through the body (think of the image of Russian spy who was poisoned and died)…
Vincent Foster was an aide to President Clinton. Part of the reason he took his own life was revealed in a suicide note he wrote. In a note found in Vincent Foster's briefcase after his suicide: "I was not meant for the job in Washington… Here ruining people is considered sport." It’s miserable to envy others and it’s miserable being in such an envious climate that people have resort to tear other down.
If you have a Bible please turn to Proverbs 23:17
This part of the Proverbs is an anthology within the Proverbs called the 30 saying of the wise. The father yearns for his son or daughter to know these truths deeply with both their mind and heart.
Proverbs 23:17:
Saying 15 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD.
The father says don’t let your heart envy sinners but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord.
He’s saying don’t envy sinners and people in general. Instead look to God and live in awe before God. Reverently submit to the wisdom of God’s revealed word.
In Proverbs 24:19-20 we have another important saying:
Saying 20 Do not envy the wicked, do not desire their company;
19 Do not fret because of evildoers
or be envious of the wicked,
20 for the evildoer has no future hope,
and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.
One of the ways we overcome envy is to look to God and by reverently submitting to his wisdom.
Another way we overcome envy is to focus on the fact that the evil doer has no future hope (Proverbs 24:20).
In Psalm 73, the Psalmist says I was grieved and embittered when I saw the wicked prosper, until I discovered their feet were on slippery ground… and that they would one day slide into a ditch of destruction.
But the righteous have a future hope.
Proverbs 12:28 says…
In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality. 2x.
The righteous person may experience suffering, but they have a future hope… and eternal joy that awaits them.
When the Psalmist enters the presence of God he realizes that while the wicked will vanish like a dream, those who walk with God will be taken up to glory.
So how does looking up to God and reverently submitting to His truth help us stamp out envy?
How does focusing the eye of our heart ahead to eternity help us overcome envy?
When we focus on God’s truth and on eternity we will see what is truly valuable.
If we understand what is really valuable we can overcome envy.
The great teachers answer the questions “Who is truly well off? “Who is truly wealthy?”
Jesus in Luke 16:15 said what is highly valued among people is not necessarily valued by God. He said what is highly valued among people may be detestable to God.
Some times we envy others because we think they have something really valuable when in fact it may not be.
What we think is really valuable may not be valued by God.
For example, people tend to think that material wealth, status, or physical appearance are all really important… none of these things is highly valued by God…
What we think is really valuable may not even be valued by the person who has what we value and envy and, ironically, they may value what we have.
The cliché is true: the grass is often greener on the other side…
A person who is a social worker may envy his sister who is corporate executive because she makes a six figure base salary plus a stock option and has a job that is considered powerful and prestigious.
The “successful” sister, however, may envy the brother who is a high school teacher because, his life seems less stressful and he has more time for friends and family than she does.
My younger brother has worked as an actor and playwright and as a writer and commentator for radio and television. My brother has said, “Sometimes I’ll go by a construction site and I envy the people work there… Their jobs seem more straightforward… They do their work and go home… whereas I’m wondering whether I’ll be able to come up with anything creative by my broadcast deadline…”
I wonder if some construction workers particularly when they’re working in the cold and rain would envy my brother’s work and would prefer to be on the radio or t.v.
Sometimes we experience envy because we consider something to be ultimately valuable—when it is not valued by God and perhaps not even valued by the person who we are envying.
So, part of the way to overcome envy is to transcend what the culture has to say about who is well to do… who is wealthy and to look to God and what he says is true wealth…
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount says, blessed or truly well off are the poor in spirit for theirs is in the Kingdom of God… if we really come to understand… that lasting wealth is in knowing God and becoming instrument of His purposes… we can overcome envy…
How does the envier in Psalm 73 overcome envy?
The envier in Psalm 73 eventually overcomes envy by coming to conclusion that he has the great wealth in God:
He declares in vss. 25-26
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
And when he realizes just how rich he is in God he’s able to overcome his envy.
2) A second way to overcome envy is to resist the temptation to compare our self with someone else and embrace the uniqueness of our call.
Part of the reason the Psalmist in Psalm 73 experienced envy to begin was because he compared his life to the carefree lives of the arrogant and wicked… who seemed to have no burdens… and easy success.
In the end of the Gospel Jesus says to Peter, “I'm telling you the very truth now: When you were young you dressed yourself and went wherever you wished, but when you get old you'll have to stretch out your hands while someone else dresses you and takes you where you don't want to go." He said this to hint at the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And then Peter replies what about John? What kind of death will he die? Jesus says, "What is that to you, ‘Follow me.’"
Like Peter, sometimes we can be preoccupied with God’s plan for someone else when God is calling us to our unique path which may not be the path He is calling your sister or brother to travel…
I never tire of quoting Rabbi Zusha who says, “In the next world, God will not ask me, ‘Why were you not Moses?’ He’ll ask me, ‘Why were you not Zushya?’”
Sometimes perhaps we want a call that involves less suffering, less waiting more “material blessing” or more glamour, more time in late November in a warm, tropical place. But God has a unique call for us, and if we belong to God he will work out everything for our eternal good (Romans 8:28).
We can overcome envy by looking up to God and resisting the temptation to compare and embrace your unique call and understand what true wealth is…
3) Be grateful.
So many people ask what is God’s will for me? A significant part of God’s call for us is to become people who give thanks. Paul in 1 Thess 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Thomas Merton, a deeply insightful writer on the spiritual life, has said, “Gratitude is the heart of the Christian life.”
According to Gordon Smith, an associate member here and writer on the spiritual life, the most important heart posture for a healthy spiritual life is gratitude.
It would be hard to exaggerate the role of gratitude in the Christian life.
This past week I came across a story of an upper middle class man who made it his practice of taking his children to poorest slums in his city.
He had several purposes in exposing his children to the poverty, helplessness, and despair that were evident in the run-down neighborhoods they would walk through. He wanted his children to develop a sense of compassion and to develop a sense of social justice. He wanted his kids to know that to be aware of the fundamental similarity between them and people who lived in great poverty.
Then after his kids had grown up… this man said this excursion had an unintended side benefit. The trips made his kids much more appreciative of what they had in this life, so as adults they were much less prone to envy others who had grown up in affluent suburbia.
Francis de Sales says, “The immature are unhappy with what they don’t have. (They are always comparing themselves with people who seem to have more).
The mature are happy with what they do have.”
One of the parents last week asked me to pray that their child would be content.
I want to be a content person too, and a content person is a grateful person.
I often find myself praying the prayer of George Herbert. “You have given me so much. Give me just one more thing, a grateful heart.”
As we look up to God and focus on what is truly valuable, resist the temptation to compare ourselves with others and embrace our unique call…and we can become grateful people we can overcome envy.
Finally…
4) Look to eternity
Proverbs 23 and 24 calls us look up to God’s truth and look ahead to eternity and overcome envy.
Psalm 73…the Psalmist says
In vs. 17
I was beleaguered and bitter,
totally consumed by envy,
I was totally ignorant, a dumb ox
Until I entered the sanctuary of God, i.e. God’s presence
And I understood that the wicked were destined for destruction and that God would take me and all who walk with God into an eternal glory…
If you know what’s coming is the complete fulfillment of your desires, you can overcome envy.
J.R.R. Tolkien envied C.S. Lewis. Why? Because, in 1937 Tolkien had said to Lewis let’s write the kind of fiction that we really want to read. During the following 2 decades C.S. Lewis wrote Space Trilogy book I, book, II, book III, the Chronicles of Narnia books 1-7 and Tolkien kept writing and re-writing one book…
Tolkien for years kept working on a book he thought he’d never finish, because never felt he could tell the story he aspired to tell..… Toliken envied Lewis for being able to complete his books.
He wrote and re-wrote all the chapters of the Lord of the Rings numerous times because he never liked it. It was never good enough. It was never as great as he hoped it would be.
In the 1940s he got so frustrated with his artistic incompetence that he got writer’s block and stopped working on the Lord of the Rings.
One night he had a dream and wrote the dream into a story and wrote it down and afterwards he was ok.
The story is called Leaf by Niggle and it’s a story about an artist called Niggle and the town fathers commission him to do a mural on the side of the town hall. He worked on the mural for years… he was trying to paint a tree… but after all those years--all he had done was one leaf in the corner of the canvas…. The town fathers said we paid you all that money to do this mural and it looks terrible. A leaf! He said, “I’m trying, I’m trying.”
Then he died and he was on a train to paradise and as he was getting close to paradise and he suddenly saw something on a hill. He said, “Stop the train.” He ran up to the top of the hill and this is what we read, “Before him stood the tree… his tree finished! Its leaves opening, its branches bending in the wind, that Niggle had so often felt and guessed, but had often failed to catch. He gazed at the tree and he lifted his arms and opened them wide. It’s a gift he said.
Tolkien through this dream realized there is a real tree and suddenly everyone is going to see it. He thought to himself there’s a story that I’m trying to tell and of course, I’ll never get it out in this lifetime, but some day I will and some day everyone is going to see that story…
Toliken was a Christian and he believed in the resurrection. When he realized one day we would be in a place where the deepest desires of our heart are going to be met… and when we live in that hope we can handle the incompleteness we now feel and overcome our frustration and envy.
Many of us like Tolkien feel frustrated, like our life work is not being done…we have not fully used our gifts and blessed people as we’d like…
In the film version of Babette’s Feast someone says to one of the Phillipa the sister with the singing gifts for the ages whose talent was never widely celebrated because she was stuck in a small, poor village says, “In paradise, you will be the truly great artist you were created to be.”
When we realize that the yearnings of our heart that are never fully met here, will be realized in eternity, when we value what God values, embrace our unique call and cultivate a heart of gratitude we can be free of envy and live with joy.
(The sermon can be heard on line at: http://www.tenth.ca/audio htm)
posted by Shigematsu at 4:19 PM
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