Ecclesiastes 4:5 Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves.

When we see what others have we may be envious of what they have. If we are willing to work to try and get what they have then that is one thing, but if we just sit back and expect things to happen then we will be in for a bit of a shock.

God does not expect us to stand around waiting for others to do our work for us. He wants us to use the gifts that He has given us to work toward glorifying Him in all that we do.

If we do not feed ourselves with the Word of God, we will be the ones who starve and look to others things to try and satisfy ourselves – but nothing will feed us like God’s Word!

Ecclesiastes 4:4 And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Have you noticed that the strongest forms of envy follow the worldliest things in life; the things we cannot take with us when we die!

We know we cannot do anything with riches after we die, and yet we still envy; this is why envy is the strongest emotion that destroys instead of building up.

Trying to chase after envy is about as good as trying to capture the wind in your hands; you can feel it and know it, but cannot do anything about it!

Genesis 37:11 And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

When Joseph started to have prophetic dreams that were telling of things to come his brothers did not like what was being said because they could see a pattern emerging that would mean they would have to serve him!

He was the youngest and should have had to look up to them, but these dreams were saying the opposite!

It was only his father who could see that these were coming from God and that they should be observed, believed and kept in their hearts. So that is what he did – he kept them in his heart.