This is what the wicked are like—always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments. Psalm 73:12-14
“The poet’s envy is rooted in the observation of an easy, wealthy life. The life of the wicked seemed to be untroubled with the burdens that normal people experienced and, despite their obvious rejection of God and the oppression of the weak, the rich just seemed to get richer.
The essence of the matter from Asaph’s perspective seems to be that wealth, however it is gained, makes life easier—an attitude often echoed in our own day! Ultimately, Asaph comes to the realization that his conclusion was not true in his day, just as it remains untrue in ours.
As we shall see in a moment, Asaph’s envy was based on an illusion. Real life for those who reject God is never as attractive as their lifestyle may seem to indicate. This was Asaph’s eventual realization as his concept of wealth is transformed.
For the time being, however, the observation of an easy life, wealth, and power proved all too seductive for Asaph, thus causing him to experience the genuine crisis of faith he recounts in these verses of his complaint.”
Dennis Tucker Jr. and Jamie A. Grant in Psalms, Volume 2 (NIVAC; Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2018) 64-65.
It’s happening. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. It’s a crisis. If you are an observer in the middle, you have three choices.
One, you can be tempted to envy, like Asaph in this psalm. Don’t go there. Real life is not found in riches. Such people may look happy. But wealth, though it promises big things, never satisfies.
Two, you can continue amassing wealth. It is not the right way, so while it looks good, it is actually “wicked” to God. This may shake people and hopefully wake them. Amassing wealth reveals misplaced trust.
Three, you can be generous to enjoy and share all God supplies. This is what it means to keep your heart and hands pure. Not easy in the world in which we find ourselves.
God help us to avoid envy and amassing wealth but rather enjoy and share it richly. Amen.