At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)
Let not thine heart envy sinners: But be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. For surely there is an end; And thine expectation shall not be cut off (KJV).
Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off (ESV).
Proverbs 23:17–18
One of the problems that the godly have in this game of life is the fact that the rules seem to be set up in a cock-eyed way. We have no problem challenging and confronting the godless, but it does bother us that everything is set up in a way that allows them to cheat. We compete against them on the field of life, but all the penalties get called on us, and they cheat in the most brazen way.
In such circumstances, the godly can be tempted to envy them. Everything seems to be going their way. They have power, they have money, they have influence, they have the media, and they get to resort to dirty tricks whenever it suits them.
And so the ungodly have “an advantage” the godly do not have. They get to cheat. But God has arranged things so that it all evens out. The saints are told not to do something—which is to envy the sinners their lot. And then the saints are commanded to do something else, which is to walk in the fear of God constantly—all the day long. The end result of this is an assurance that what God promises here will in fact come to pass. There is a future coming when envying the sinners will be the last thing on our minds. The hope of the godly will not be cut off, and the implication is that the hope of those who have refused to fear God will in fact be cut off, and that eternally.
