¹Surely God is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart! ²But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped. ³For I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked … ¹⁷Until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end.

This psalm deals with the age-old problem: why do those who are immoral and self-centric have the advantage over those who live by ethical and genuinely benevolent ideals, described here as “pure in heart?” An earlier psalm gives a protracted teaching on how to respond to the apparent advantages the wicked have in life:

Do not fret because of evildoers, be not envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. (Ps. 37:1–2)

But Psalm 73 (the counterpart to Psalm 37) gives us insight through the personal testimony of one who almost fell prey to the slippery slope of envy and how he overcame it.

This psalm, scholars believe, comes from an individual from within the musical guild of Asaph. It divides neatly into two parts, with verses 1-16 depicting his troublesome slide into envy while verses 17-28 reflect the insight he gained from seeing and adopting God’s viewpoint on those prosperous evil people. While today we may assign those terms, wicked and evil, to only the worst of self-centered people, this testimony relates to any of us who begin the downward gradient of envy that leads to covetousness, bitterness, jealousy, spite, and resentment. The spiral downward that envy sparks in one’s life can even lead to joining the wicked in pursuing self-aggrandizement at the expense of others, thereby being disloyal to all we know about God and His goodness.

Envy is a strong, consuming vice we are all familiar with, even the best of us. The human author of this inspired Scripture says, as a matter of fact, “I was envious.” He named the temptation and owned the guilt of giving in to it. Looking back, he can see that it would lead to stumbling not only for himself but also for others. Into what? Slipping away from trusting God and pursuing riches, power, and pleasures that this world affords—all the things the wicked seem to have.

In the first half of the psalm, verses 3-12, he describes how he used to think about prosperous people who seemingly avoid the “pains in their death.” Of course, from hindsight, he could see that this reflects envy’s blindness to the downside of sinful living while focusing on the immediate benefits and enjoyments of sin. The wicked are well fed; indeed, in the ancient world, having enough to eat was a daily challenge, so the idea that for the wicked, “their body is fat” reflects an overabundance of food. They don’t seem to fall ill as often, they flaunt their pride, and they use any means, including physical force, to get their way. While other people fill their time with the struggle of daily living, they seem to have the luxury to pursue their dreams, the wildest “imaginations of their heart.” And the list goes on.

The wicked people that the psalmist describes justify themselves by arrogantly thinking that God doesn’t see or know what they are doing. After all, if God knew, He would presumably punish them. But they are “always at ease, they have increased in wealth” (vs. 12).

What’s the use of living a moral life when the immoral have such great success? That is the temptation—to think that living right before God is a waste of time. If the Lord doesn’t know about and punish the wicked, He must not know about or care for the pure in heart. By contrast, the psalmist’s experience of being stricken and chastened every morning could indicate he was experiencing chronic illness (vs. 14). Where did living righteously get him?

The segue in the psalmist’s thinking occurs when he comes to his senses and considers the massive, devastating impact his actions would have on those after him. Leaving a legacy of spiritual abandonment of God’s goodness was something he couldn’t get past.

If I had said, “I will speak thus,” Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children. (Ps. 73:15)

In other words, he did not want others to be weakened in their faith by his going to the other side and living like the wicked. The betrayal would influence others to think pursuing worldly gain was better than living a holy life. But, the progression of the decline was too strong for him; he needed to reframe the narrative of how he looked at this dilemma. He didn’t want to leave a heritage of betrayal to God and to his children.

The pivot comes with the word “until.”

When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end. (Ps. 73:16-17)

In verses 17-28, looking back in hindsight, the change came when he entered the sanctuary of God. While this may reference the temple in Jerusalem, it conveys more the sense of coming before God in communion in his soul. He reoriented himself to the Lord, and that was when he understood that the slide into wicked living was much steeper than expected and would end in destruction. Inwardly, the enormous fear of death and judgment quickly consume the wicked, and their lives will come to a screeching halt (vs. 18-20).

Who cannot relate to the writer’s remorse as he looks back on his foolish envy? He now recognizes how stupid that way of thinking was:

When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. (Ps. 73:21–22)

But in his self-effacement, he affirms his trust in the Lord. His words can be our own as we resist envy and strive to affirm our loyalty to and trust in God:

Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Ps. 73:25–26)