The Poison of Envy and the Rot of Rebellion Text: Proverbs 24:1-2
Introduction: The World's Glare and God's Grammar
We live in an age of pervasive envy, an age where the wicked not only prosper but have their prosperity live-streamed into our pockets twenty-four hours a day. The world has mastered the art of making sin look glamorous. The ungodly man builds his gaudy house on the sand, and for a season, the sun glints off the windows, the music is loud, and the parties are the talk of the town. From a distance, it looks like success. It looks like freedom. It looks like fun. And the Christian, toiling faithfully in the field, can be tempted to look over the fence and feel a pang of something he knows he shouldn't feel. He can be tempted to envy the wicked.
This temptation is as old as the Fall. Asaph wrestled with it mightily in Psalm 73, admitting his feet had almost slipped when he saw the prosperity of the arrogant. The world's definition of success is a powerful anesthetic for the conscience. It measures life in terms of acquisitions, influence, and sensual pleasure. And because we are still creatures of flesh and blood, living in this fallen frame, the glare of that success can sometimes blind us to the grammar of reality that God has written into the fabric of the cosmos.
But the book of Proverbs is a bracing slap of cold water to the face. It is divine realism. It cuts through the fog of the world's marketing campaigns and reminds us of the true nature of things. It tells us not just to avoid certain actions, but to guard our hearts against certain desires. The prohibition here is not just against joining the wicked in their carousing, but against the secret, internal sin of wanting to. It addresses the root of the problem, the covetous glance, the simmering discontent. For if you allow yourself to desire what they have, you are but one small step from desiring to be with them. And if you desire to be with them, you are on the precipice of becoming like them. This passage is a crucial warning for the church in every generation, but particularly in ours, where the lines are being blurred and the pressure to compromise is immense. We are being told that we can have their world and our Christ too. Proverbs tells us this is a damnable lie.
The Text
Do not be jealous of evil men,
And do not desire to be with them;
For their heart meditates on destruction,
And their lips talk of mischief.
(Proverbs 24:1-2 LSB)
The Prohibition Against Worldly Longing (v. 1)
We begin with the first verse, a two-pronged command that addresses both an internal attitude and an external orientation.
"Do not be jealous of evil men, And do not desire to be with them;" (Proverbs 24:1)
The first command, "Do not be jealous of evil men," strikes at the heart. Jealousy, or envy, is a sin of sight. It is a failure of faith. When we envy the wicked, we are functionally declaring that what they have, obtained through rebellion against God, is more valuable than what we have by grace through faith in God. We are looking at their temporary, flimsy scaffolding of worldly success and judging it to be more substantial than the eternal weight of glory promised to us in Christ. It is a profound insult to our Creator and Redeemer. It is to look at the pearl of great price and then glance covetously at a handful of plastic beads.
Why is this temptation so potent? Because the wicked often seem to be getting away with it. They cast off restraint, they indulge every appetite, they cut ethical corners to get ahead, and for a time, it works. They get the promotion, the influence, the attractive spouse, the vacation home. They are not burdened by the moral guardrails that guide the righteous. Their lives appear to be a shortcut to the good life. But the wisdom of God here tells us that their path is a mirage. To envy them is to envy a man on death row for his last meal. It is a failure to see the end of the story.
The second command flows directly from the first: "And do not desire to be with them." An envious heart will inevitably lead to compromised company. If you admire their fruit, you will soon want to hang around their tree. You will start to think their fellowship is not so bad after all. You'll tell yourself you can be a "good influence," when in reality, your desire is not to win them to Christ but to warm your hands at the fire of their worldly success. The Bible is unflinchingly clear about this: "Do not be deceived: 'Bad company corrupts good morals'" (1 Corinthians 15:33). Light has no fellowship with darkness. To desire to be with them is to desire a truce in a war that God has declared will have no truce. It is to seek neutrality on a battlefield where God Himself has drawn the line of separation.
The Diagnosis of the Rotten Core (v. 2)
Verse two does not give us another command. Instead, it provides the reason, the divine rationale, for the prohibition in verse one. It peels back the skin and shows us the disease raging within the ungodly.
"For their heart meditates on destruction, And their lips talk of mischief." (Proverbs 24:2 LSB)
This is the "for," the "because." Why should you not envy them or desire their company? Because their entire operating system is corrupt. The diagnosis is total. It begins with the heart, the center of their being, their worldview, their presuppositions. "Their heart meditates on destruction." The word for destruction here is sod, which carries the idea of violence, devastation, and ruin. This is not just a passing thought; it is what their heart "meditates" on. It is their study, their craft, their default setting. The unregenerate heart, at its core, is de-constructive. It is at war with God's created order. It seeks to tear down, to violate, to exploit. It might mask this destructive impulse with sophisticated language about autonomy or self-fulfillment, but the end result is always the same: ruin. Ruin for themselves, for their families, for their communities.
And what is in the heart inevitably overflows through the mouth. "And their lips talk of mischief." The word for mischief is amal, which means trouble, toil, or sorrow. It is speech that creates problems. It is gossip that severs relationships. It is slander that destroys reputations. It is flattery that sets a snare. It is perverse joking that cheapens what is holy. Their conversation is the soundtrack of their destructive hearts. As Jesus said, "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). You cannot have sweet fellowship with a poisoned well. To desire to be with them is to desire to sit and listen to the steady drip of mischief and destruction. Why on earth would a child of the King, who has tasted the goodness of the Lord, want to do that?
This verse reveals the fundamental antithesis. The righteous man's heart is to meditate on God's law day and night (Psalm 1:2), which is a law of life and order. The wicked man's heart meditates on destruction and chaos. The righteous man's lips are to bring forth wisdom and healing (Proverbs 10:21, 12:18). The wicked man's lips bring forth trouble and sorrow. They are on two entirely different trajectories, animated by two entirely different spirits. To envy them is not just a minor sin; it is a profound category error. It is to misunderstand the nature of reality itself.
Conclusion: The Antidote of a Better Longing
So what is the antidote to this poison of envy? It is not simply gritting our teeth and trying harder not to be jealous. The only way to drive out a lesser desire is with a greater one. The cure for envying the wicked is to cultivate a deeper, more profound, more all-consuming jealousy for the glory of God and the goodness of His house.
Asaph discovered this when he went into the sanctuary of God. It was there, in the presence of God, that he understood the final end of the wicked (Psalm 73:17). He saw that they were set in slippery places, destined for ruin. The glare of their prosperity was suddenly revealed for what it was: the momentary flash of a falling star. And in that moment, his perspective was radically reoriented. He could say, "Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You" (Psalm 73:25).
That is the cure. We must fill our hearts and minds with the goodness of our King. We must meditate on His destruction, the destruction He absorbed on the cross to save us from our own. We must fill our ears with His lips, which speak grace and truth. When you are truly satisfied with the feast God has set before you, you will no longer look with longing at the scraps falling from the world's table.
Therefore, do not envy the man who builds his life on the foundation of rebellion. Do not desire the company of those whose hearts are factories of ruin and whose mouths are assembly lines for trouble. Their way seems broad and easy, but it leads to destruction. Instead, set your heart on the things above. Desire to be with the saints. Let your heart meditate on the law of the Lord, and let your lips speak of His goodness. For their house is built on the sand, and the storm is coming. But our house is built on the Rock, and that Rock is Christ.