Genesis 31 vs 1-3 reflects ourselves so richly.
Jacob has been working for Laban, fulfilling highly exploitative contractual agreements, and putting up with being lied to. Laban’s sons envy the successes Jacob gains, and turn their father against Jacob.
‘Enduring Word’ study guide expands the grossness of envy based on this passage of Holy Scripture, Genesis 31 vs 1-3. This magnificent cross-reference of envy throughout Scripture should get all of us to stop for a moment.
Dr. Bernard Golden Ph.D, writes in ’Psychology Today’, to quote:
- ’Envy is most often defined as some degree of discontent we experience regarding another’s possessions, advantages, achievements, traits, etc.
- Envy focuses on making a comparison that only enhances our feeling inferiority.
- Envy is malicious and may be accompanied by resentment, annoyance, and wishes of ill-fortune. It may ultimately fuel hatred and even aggression.’ -https://www.psychologytoday.com/za/blog/overcoming-destructive-anger/201912/what-your-envy-says-about-you?amp
HOW DO WE WALK AWAY FROM ENVY?
1) The first place to begin is to ask God to examine us. The Holy Spirit is our Counselor, and examines our hearts. God has the ability to expose the root of our envy. As Dr. Golden alludes to, envy finds its root in insecurity. We can ask God to expose where those insecurities come from and draw on Jesus’ strength to confront those lies by replacing the learned conditioning with who God says we are, why He made us to be ourselves, and what He wants us to do for Him.
2) With a trusted, healthy, and honest therapist/Pastor/ support group we hold ourselves accountable to changing the narrative of our insecurities by having transparent dialogue. Talk Therapy has shown to be far more effective than trying to medicate the ill-feelings away. I ALWAYS recommend using a Christian Therapist as the (good) Christian has the advantage of the Holy Spirit who gives insight beyond mere academics.
3) We turn envy on its head, by using it as a force to motivate ourselves to prove our learned conditioning wrong, by achieving all we can, honestly and ethically, to honour Jesus. God wants us to be successful, but that success cannot be our “god”, so we must be careful to not chase success as the measure, but rather chase the Creator who ‘works all things to the good of those who love Him and are called into His Purpose.’
4) Avoid unnecessary triggers that stir up hatred and envy- we must starve our reactivity to triggers SO THAT we can allow new neuropathways to form with better Godly narratives.
5) Begin counting our own blessings with gratitude and thankfulness. Noticing what we have begins to reinforce a positive mindset that grows towards better.
It HELPS to see how far envy can take us when we see that envy put our Messiah King Jesus on a cross to die a shockingly cruel death to accomplish God’s Salvation Plan. This should humble us to deal with personal envies.
#Hayibo 