Beware of covetousness

Covetousness will rob you of contentment. It works like this: you browse through a home-decorating magazine, and the home you were thankful for an hour ago suddenly seems junky. Or you see an ad on TV for a new automobile, and the car in your driveway suddenly looks like a jalopy. God expects you to have goals for your life and to provide for your family, but beware of coveting things so much that you become obsessed with how to get them. When Israel went to war with Jericho, God told them everything in the city was to be destroyed. So afterward, when Israel stormed the small town of Ai and met with a humiliating defeat, Joshua was devastated. When he asked God why they had lost the battle, He told him it was because of sin in the Israelite camp. When Joshua investigated, Achan, one of his soldiers, confessed, “When I saw…the spoils…I coveted them and took them” (Joshua 7:21 NKJV). When Achan tried to conceal his sin by hiding the stolen goods in his tent, it cost him and his family their lives. When you covet, you question God’s wisdom, willingness, and ability to provide for you. Don’t do it! When you find yourself wanting something, pray about it and trust God to give it to you – if it’s His will. His Word assures us, “No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” God knows what’s good for you and what’s not, and all your pleading won’t change His mind. But when your desire is to do His will, He promised, “You will always have plenty” (2 Corinthians 9:8 NCV).