Jealousy Follows Favor Series

Proverbs 28:16 A ruler who lacks understanding is a great oppressor, But he who hates covetousness will prolong his days.

Job 5:2 For wrath kills a foolish man, And envy slays a simple one.

At its core jealousy is just a pathway that leads to a crossroads, inevitably you’ll have to make a decision when you reach this juncture. You can either repent and turn around or you have one of two choices you can either turn one way down the path of lust and covetousness or you can turn down the other path which leads to destruction. One path will make you devote your life to acquiring something you don’t have (or used to have) no matter the cost. The other path will make you devote your life to destroying what another person has because if you can’t have it then no one can.

What Can You Do

Next week I’ll talk about how Saul’s jealousy transformed into fear and hatred but for now I want you to be aware that these types of situations still happened not just in the world but also in the church. It can happen between pastors and staff, between members and volunteers, between strangers and the pastor and so on. So it should be no surprise that behaviors and risks like this happen but what should you do to model your life after what David did?

What we need to first realize is that our own lives are not about proving those jealous people wrong it’s about witnessing God being right about what he has cultivated in your heart and life while witnessing the fruits of that manifest in the world around you. The first and best thing you can do is to remain faithful and committed to what God is leading you to/through. As we’ll see in the coming weeks David had literal spears thrown at him but he still refused to murder Saul, or to take a shortcut in this journey to becoming king.

Before I continue I feel that I must make this statement: David’s example with Saul doesn’t mean that you cannot “turn over” a fallen leader who has engaged in criminal or unethical activities. Saul received his judgment before David was anointed and David didn’t invent stories to try and take down Saul. However, you must not feel obligated to insulate or protect a fallen leader when they have committed a crime, had a breach of ethics or have engaged in improper sexual activities.

You are not in the wrong to turn that leader over to the authorities, just as long as the accusations are more than just gossip and hearsay that weren’t fabricated. I feel many people take this interchange between David and Saul and use it as justification to allow a leader to continue in their sins and issues, or this story is used to intimidate victims or witnesses from coming forward. That is not the situation that happened here with David and Saul and I feel it this needs to be mentioned here.

If you want a biblical example of how this should take place look at the example of Nathan confronting David about Bathsheba, or Paul confronting Peter about his treatment of the Gentile believers. Those examples provide a healthy biblical example of how to deal with a person in leadership who has failed in their duties and ethics.