Jealousy

I honestly wish that someone taught me what I now know concerning jealousy/insecurity hence the reason why I’m sharing this with you guys.

I’ll be drawing from the Bible and based on my own life and hopefully, you will be able to look at your experiences and be able to spot a trend and improve o it. My prayer is that this will help you to begin to see your “enemies/haters” differently.

The Story of David

From the time that David was young, he was overlooked and some may say with good reason. I mean, he was the last born son in a family of 8 boys so its possible that by the time that he was born, his parents were tired. Any last born here who feel this?

This is brought out even more clearly when Samuel went to Bethlehem to anoint a new king. And it honestly seems like no one remembers that David is missing and we see Samuel asking Jesse if he has any other son and they go like, “oh yeah!”

Then Samuel asked, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied. “But he’s out in the fields watching the sheep and goats.” “Send for him at once,” Samuel said. “We will not sit down to eat until he arrives.”
1 Samuel 16:11 NLT

The family doesn’t even seem to remember that he exists!

Everyday, David went out to tend to his father’s flock but his elder brothers saw nothing special about him. To them he was nothing more than a herdsman. So even when the first 3 sons enlisted in Israel’s army, they probably looked down upon him.

But when David’s oldest brother, Eliab, heard David talking to the men, he was angry. “What are you doing around here anyway?” he demanded. “What about those few sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and deceit. You just want to see the battle!” “What have I done now?” David replied. “I was only asking a question!”
1 Samuel 17:28‭-‬29 NLT

Unbeknowst to them, the Lord was sharpening David’s skills in the wilderness as warrior and this results in him eventually killing a Philistine giant that an entire army of trained men was afraid of.

Fast forward to a few years after David had killed Goliath, he is enlisted in the army and becomes so successful that the Israelite women compose songs praising him. This results in King Saul becoming envious of him. David did whatever it took to please the king by delivering on his KPI’s as army commander but the more he was successful the more Saul envied him. Now that we have the backstory, let’s get into the “meat.”

Whatever Saul asked David to do, David did it successfully. So Saul made him a commander over the men of war, an appointment that was welcomed by the people and Saul’s officers alike.
1 Samuel 18:5 NLT

---

Anyway, let’s get into it:

1. There are people who are jealous of you because of what you do well

See, whenever the favour of the Lord is upon someone, they end up succeeding in all that they do. The success comes because the spirit of excellence is upon you and many times you don’t realise that everything you do is successful.

Do not be surprised when you begin to see people rising up against you when you’re doing well.

Unfortunately it is not always the case. Sometimes you will not even realise that you’ve become an expert on something because like David, the Lord had been sharpening you and so you do it so well because it’s like 2nd nature.

Have you ever had people hate you and you just don’t understand why? I know I have. I’ve had people hate me because of may reasons, some very silly to me, and at the time I didn’t realise that it was jealousy.

Just because you don’t realise how good you are at something, doesn’t mean that other people aren’t taking note. Understand that people who don’t have the Spirit of God in them will be begin to be jealous of you because the Lord’s hand is upon you. And prepare for the backlash. It happened to David so why not you and I?

2. Jealousy is not of God

This made Saul very angry. “What’s this?” he said. “They credit David with ten thousands and me with only thousands. Next they’ll be making him their king!” So from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.
The very next day a tormenting spirit from God overwhelmed Saul, and he began to rave in his house like a madman. David was playing the harp, as he did each day. But Saul had a spear in his hand,
1 Samuel 18:8-10 NLT

Because of Saul’s jealousy, a tormenting spirit came upon him. Similarly, there is a spirit operating in people who are jealous of you. People who are jealous are dangerous to be around and it is best not to think that you can befriend them so that they can begin to like you and change.

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ~ James 3:14-15

Also, not everyone is going to be happy with your success. Your success will trigger something in people who do not want to see you rise to be who God has called you to be. Expect it and pray that the Lord will give you grace to endure the I’ll treatment because such people will not allow the way upto be rosy for you. It will be a path full of obstructions and the jealous ones trying to block you.

3. Jealous people see the greatness in you and they want to kill it before you realize what you carry

Remember how Saul tried to kill David over and over again? Jealous people will try and kill your destiny in various ways (through gossip/slander/character assassination) and cause you to be so busy trying to figure out what you did wrong to them that causes them to hate you so much. David repeatedly asks Saul what he had done to deserve death but Saul couldn’t explain the hatred.

The destiny of David was to be the successor of King Saul as the King of Israel. But through Saul, Satan wanted to make sure that God’s plan never saw the light of day. What is it about you that satan wants to ensure never fully comes to life? What are the gifts or calling over your life that someone is trying to shut down and you are allowing?

I’m trying not to make this post too long so I’m going to split it into 2 parts so that I don’t bore you with long paragraphs 😊 Look out for part 2 tomorrow!

As usual thanks for stopping by!

Blog banner by Pro Church Mavailable freely on @unsplash