"...I was Envious of the Arrogant, When I Saw the Prosperity of the Wicked."

Excerpt from pg 10 of the King and the Kingdom Periodical-- THE SEEING OF THE SOUL AND THE SEEING OF THE SPIRIT
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("He shall not judge by what His eyes see, or decide by what His ears hear; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth." -- Isaiah 11:3, 4 )


".....In Psalm 73, the psalmist writes, "As for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had well nigh slipped." The reason: "For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." Not only was he perplexed but he was also troubled because he could not understand why the ungodly (wicked) were blessed with good health, riches, and were held in high esteem by their peers whereas the godly not only were visited with many afflictions, hardships and disappointments, but also were scorned and despised. Why should the godly receive only evil and the ungodly only good in life? Why this disparity? "It seemed to me a wearisome task (to understand this)," he affirms. "UNTIL I went into the sanctuary (Presence) of God; then I perceived their end." (Psalm 73: 2-17)

Not until the psalmist entered God's presence was he able to see what his soul had failed to see. Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, he saw that the prosperity of the ungodly is at best short-lived and that true prosperity-- the prosperity of the godly- consists in loving God and in doing His will, even as First John 2:15-17 confirms, "If any one loves the World, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the World. And the World passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever."

May we too receive grace to see everyone and everything through the eyes of the Holy Spirit rather than through the eyes of our souls.

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The wicked is not necessarily what you would think. A person whom God may consider wicked may appear blameless to others. They may follow the 10 commandments perfectly and be an "upright" citizen, but inside they may think of themselves as a "cut above" people less perfect than them. Their very pride is wickedness before God- as spiritual pride is one of the worst prides a person can fall into.
Remember the parable Jesus mentioned of the sinner and the pharisee --both finding themselves in the Temple at the same time. The pharisee bows his head and prays to God, "Thank you God for making me NOT like that sinner" at the same time the sinner is praying in the Temple, "God, please have mercy to me- a sinner". Who do you think God was touched by? Whose prayer did He honor? the sinner's prayer!

People like the pharisee are in our jobs, our churches, in our neighborhoods- and we may even fall into this catagory ourselves.

Wickedness takes many forms besides the obvious wickedness of drug dealers, mafia, murder and other obvious criminal behavior.
The worst level of wickedness is often the subtle type that is not obvious by outward appearances. The Bible mentions that there is wickedness in high places-- In our governments, in our World Churches, in our top Corporations. Yes, the lesser forms of wickedness-- like a kid slashing a person's tires for fun, is still wickedness and God doesn't like that form either. In fact the more Elite wicked in top organizations- who prefer to cover up their wickedness -will often hire those of that base level of wickedness as "henchmen".


But God reads everyone's hearts and sees all of us with Clear, unbiased eyes. He wants EVERY level of wickedness purged out of us, be it profanity, selfishness, superior attitudes, manipulation of others, Indifference etc, etc., etc.

Wickedness is what it is and it is something that to some degree is in all of us. God forbid we should permit it to remain in us.

The psalmist cries out to God, "See if their be any wicked way in me, and lead me into the way that is everlasting". This should be our practice for the remainder of our lives--bringing any thing evil we see in ourselves before God so that He can start the cleansing detox process in us to rid it and to replace it with His way of thinking and attitude.

No man can have a void inside him. When God purges out our old nature, the Holy spirit fills us with His oil-- His nature and attitude, and way of seeing things.

We no longer look at a particular issue by the eyes of our own reasoning (soul) but through God's eyes (our spirit)

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