Have you ever watched an awards show on TV, or read the news about a million dollar athlete who beat his wife, or sat back and watched that dishonest coworker get all the promotions, while you struggle to make ends meet? You think, “They have it all, and they blatantly deny God. Why do I bother?”

The psalmist was thinking along those lines in Psalm 73. He admitted he almost lost his way, “For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” (vs 3)

Then in verse 13 he adds, “Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.”

Is he right? Are we who love and obey God foolishly living meaningless lives?

The psalmist says that was exactly what he was thinking “till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.” When the psalmist turned his eyes toward heaven, he recognized the truth; that this life is temporary. Another life is ahead.

Psalm 78 recounts the ways God worked in the lives of the children of Israel; how He blessed their obedience, punished their disobedience, and forgave them every time they repented.

He (God) remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.” (78:39)

That describes your life, too. Life on Earth is just a passing breeze, and once it’s passed, there is no coming back. No do-overs. This is your moment to decide your eternity.

Is your neighbor’s bank account that important in light of eternity? I guarantee when you stand before God, He’s not going to ask you about your neighbor.

Many people seem to want the good life, with no health problems, to have without earning, or to get ahead at all cost. They measure their happiness or success according to the things they have. You know them, health and wealth are their goals.

I’ve heard the question asked: “What good is it to live the good life, to accumulate things, and die a peaceful death, if death ushers you into a painful eternity, void of any goodness, light, or hope?

I encourage you to read these psalms today and let them remind you that God is a just judge. Your impatience to see wicked people get what you think they deserve is God’s patience while He works in their hearts for eternity’s sake. It’s never about the things, or the success, or what you perceive as their happiness. It’s about a loving God who died for them and wants to call them His own.

Take your eyes off people. Quit telling God how You think He ought to be handling wicked people. Throw off jealousy. Those things are robbing you of the peace and joy that God wants to give you as His child. It’s robbing you of a right relationship with your Savior, with our loving God who is anxious to welcome you home to an eternity that is so much better than anything– ANYTHING — this world can offer.

Trust Him. It’s worth it.