Genesis 26:14-15 He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. 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.

When you think about it, this is totally irrational, because the Philistines could have used the water just as well as Isaac’s servants. However, this behavior of irrational jealousy is very evident today. When Israel turned Gaza over to the Palestinians, there were many, many greenhouses, very effective for making the arid land produce good crops. However to the Palestinians, those greenhouses represented the hated Jews, and they smashed them in jealousy, not stopping to think that they would be a source of prosperity and blessing for them. Jealousy is a very strange and destructive thing. It never benefits anyone. Much of the social turmoil in the US right now is motivated by jealousy, cloaked in terms of “income inequality.” Sounds like the Philistines to me! Isaac was wealthy because of two things: hard work and God’s blessing. His father’s servants had worked hard and dug productive wells, vitally important both for flocks and for irrigation, and God had blessed his agriculture and animal husbandry, probably involving giving him wisdom to do it well. Stopping up the wells didn’t increase the Philistines’ wealth any more than rioting and terrorism increase wealth today. Jealousy is a poison, period. The logical response to seeing someone with something you would like to have is to strive to achieve that yourself. America was founded as a land of equal opportunity, but many today are claiming that it should be a land of equal outcomes. That simply won’t happen, because the push for it is motivated by jealousy.

I have been tempted to be jealous many times, but I don’t think I’ve fallen into jealousy very often. It would be nice if I were athletically proficient, but that’s not an area where I’ve been gifted, and I certainly haven’t put in the hours of practice called for. Trying to sabotage a superior athlete, like happened with two skaters a few years ago, would certainly benefit no one. When I wanted better health, particularly for my cardiovascular system, I had to make the decision to take the time to walk, and it paid off big time. Simply envying others with better genes in that area would have done me no good. As a pastor I deal with envy/jealousy in others fairly often, and it is a difficult problem to handle. At the same time I’ve got to keep watch over my own response to other pastors with larger churches or more prominent ministries. I am to rejoice at how God uses them, and seek to be ever more diligent and faithful in how God wants to use me. It is easy to see and decry jealousy in others; I need to recognize and reject it in myself.

Father, thank You for Your grace. Thank You for the recognition that it is all grace. Help me respond to Your grace properly, as a faithful steward, so that I may avoid the traps of the enemy and fulfill all of Your plans for me, for the blessing of many and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!