The Power of Envy

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE POWER OF ENVY

Gen 26:12-16

12 Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him. 13 The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. 14 He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. 15 So all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth. 16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, "Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us."

NIV

To have the blessing of God upon our life is everything. We see that Isaac did not just sit around waiting for something to happen. He planted crops, he had many flocks of sheep and herds of cattle or camels. His yield from his fields was one hundredfold because the LORD blessed him. It does not always happen that a person becomes as wealthy as Isaac had because the Lord blesses them. It is not always about the material blessing in life, but it sure was for Isaac. But he also worked for his wealth, he planted the field, or at least his servants may have. But the point of this portion of the narrative is the envy of the Philistines. However, Isaac was not much of an evangelist because we are not told that he said anything to the Philistines that his becoming wealthy was all because the LORD blessed him. He could have told them that if they turned to the LORD he served, they might receive a blessing from the LORD as Isaac did. Nevertheless, the Philistines became envious and put their envy to work filling in wells the servants of Abraham had dug, hence would have belonged to Isaac. Envy is a horrible disease of the heart; it can destroy a person from the inside out. First, it darkens the heart, keeping the light out. It overcomes the heart which then overcomes the thoughts of the mind. Everything else is put on the back burner, unimportant as muddling and almost consumed with envy. Everything they see Isaac’s flock, herds, and harvests he gathers from his fields, they cannot just look away, and forget about him or how much wealth he has accrued. Their darkened craving hearts caused them into action and they filled in those wells Isaac needed to water his flocks and herds, as well as drinking water for his people. They were so envious they told him to leave their area, that he had become too powerful for them. We cannot allow envy to have even the slightest little foothold in our hearts. We could also focus on the attitude of Isaac, as it might have been possible for him to share, but that was not, and it appears it is still not the custom of those who are wealthy to share their wealth with others. We all work for our own gain, and that is how society works, but the point is about envy. Some have far more than we do, and we most likely have more than some others. In the body of Christ, in the church, there will always be those who are considered wealthy, and to some extent exert their influence in the church, being powerful or controlling because of how much they give to the church. It might be possible that some pastors may yield to their influence as well. But the point is that we are the body of Christ and should rejoice because God has blessed them materially, instead of letting envy begin the long painful darkening of our hearts. Our main focus is our Lord Jesus, the Light of the world, our Savior. Our main focus is worshipping our God, our creator, and who has blessed us with salvation and eternal life. The trouble begins when we take our eyes off Jesus, stop wanting to be like Him, and look at others, wishing we could be like them. Turn our eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace. If we do that, there is no room for envy, not the tiniest little opening for envy to begin.