It’s easy to keep your focus on how good other people have it. You’ll run into people who don’t seem to have problems like you do. They seem happy and blessed all the time. But not you-you start looking at their load and compare it to your heavy load. Before long, you’ve put the cherry of self-pity on top of your sundae of despair.
This is what David began to do in Psalm 73. He basically said: “Lord, I’m in so much trouble, but when I look at other people I become envious. They are prosperous. They have no struggles. Their bodies are healthy and strong. It seems like I have kept a pure heart in vain.”
Have you ever thought that? God, I’ve done everything right and I still have trouble!
But David realized he was going down the wrong path. He had to change his thought process. He said, “When I try to understand all of this it is oppressive for me!”
When we compare ourselves to others, we become oppressed and depressed. Comparison isn’t healthy physically, spiritually, or emotionally. We can get derailed from getting to where God wants us, living abundantly. Imagine trying to drive somewhere that you’ve never been and instead of following your own GPS system, you try to follow the GPS system inside the car next to you. Sound crazy? It is! You don’t even know where that car is headed. How can you possibly expect their directions to help you reach your destination? You have to mind your own steering wheel, your own business; run your own race, follow your own destiny. Every person has his or her own battles to conquer.
God will keep you in perfect peace as you trust in him. In your disappointments, if you keep your thoughts fixed on God and not other people, he will keep you in that place of perfect peace.
Excerpt from You Are Made For More!
