"The Green Monster"

"They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the LORD." (Psalms 106:16)

This is a very real thing, you know; so real, God puts it up towards the top of His naughty list, the list of things that He cannot stand. The word for "envied," it is not just a feeling that one might have, which would make this word a noun; this word is a verb, therefore it is followed by action. It is one thing to feel envious about someone, that is pretty much part of the human heart; there are many people who become successful in life because they saw someone who was successful and wanted to be like them. Paul had even instructed those in Philippi, "Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you." So it is really not a bad thing to want to be as good as someone else. I think it works best to go back to another word that was spoken by Solomon in Proverbs 1:32b: "Fools are destroyed by their own complacency." That word 'complacency' is a word that means to feel smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements. That is something I have seen over and over in the world of sales; the laborers are always envious of the successful salesmen, thinking that what they do laboring is so much harder than the kick-back life of a salesman. The attitude is something like: 'I work harder than they do, I deserve to get at least get as much pay as they are making.' This really does not stop there, because the salesman can be envious of his employer, seeing that he is doing all of the sales, while his employer reaps all the benefits and only gives him a portion of his sales. The grass is always greener on the other side; until you get on the other side, and suddenly realize that you were happier being a laborer. Just tell me what to do, I will do it, and get paid; that's a life I have not known since 1982! Since then it's been living based upon sales; I can work 80 hours a week, but if things are not selling and paying, I get no pay. On the other hand, the word 'complacency' arises again; but this time it is associated with our feeling of being successful based upon all of our achievements, forgetting about the God who provides; as if it was all my hard work that built this or that. Does that sound familiar to anyone? Yes, even great kings and angels can be envious and try to take God's glory. So, just in case you might feel as if this is not talking to you, just thank God for the satisfaction and contentment He has given you to be where you are and who you are, and continue to remember it is all God's, even the very breath of life that is within you. The bottom line, is that there was a rise of smugness in the camp of Israel, that somehow some felt as though they were as good as or better than Moses and Aaron. The grass is always greener on the other side, but it requires more maintenance...

"What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what other have, but you can't get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong -you want only what will give you pleasure." (James 4:1-3) NLT