我们继续思想诗篇第七十三篇，让诗人感到挣扎的问题核心是：「我实在徒然洁净了我的心，徒然洗手表明无辜。因为我终日遭灾难；每早晨受惩治」（诗七十三13-14）。请容许我将他的话重新演绎：「我在这里，过着敬虔的生活，保持自己的内心和双手清洁，避免犯罪，默想神的事情，献身于讨神喜悦的生活；但虽然这样，我面对各种困难。如果神不保护我，事奉祂有甚么好处？」

因此，问题不是邪恶人的兴盛，而是诗人眼见别人生活美满，而自己却经历很大的考验。我们现在开始看到诗人较早时提到嫉妒的根源所在：「我见恶人和狂傲人享平安就心怀不平」（3节）。嫉妒源自两个原因──「无知」和「错误的比较」。

让我们先探讨「错误的比较」这一成因。桑斯特博士（Dr W E Sangster）说：「我们所有问题都几乎源于错误的比较。」这是多么正确的说法。我们与别人比较外表、高度、收入、家庭、教育和能力，然后很快的就看不见自己的独特之处。把我们自己与基督比较是健康的属灵操练，但如果沈溺在与那些比我们兴盛和幸运的人比较，就是直接走上嫉妒的路。

We come now to the heart of the issue with which the psalmist is struggling in Psalm 73: "Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning" (Psa. 73:13-14). Permit me to paraphrase what I think he is saying: "Here I am, living a godly life, keeping my heart and hands clean, avoiding sin, meditating on the things of God and devoting myself to a life pleasing to God, yet despite this I am facing all kinds of troubles. What's the advantage in serving God if He doesn't protect me?"

The problem, then, is not so much the prosperity of the wicked as the fact that he himself is passing through a period of great trial while they are getting off scot-free. We begin now to see the roots of the envy to which the psalmist referred earlier: "For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked" (v.3). Envy is born out of two things: ignorance and a wrong comparison.

Take, first, a wrong comparison. "Almost all our problems," said Dr W.E. Sangster, "begin in a wrong comparison." How true this is. We compare our looks, our height, our income, our homes, our training and our abilities with those of others and soon we lose sight of our own individuality and specialness. To compare ourselves with Christ is a healthy spiritual discipline, but to indulge in comparison with those we think are more prosperous and fortunate than we are is the direct road to envy.