eyes on the prize

Psalm 49:15, "But God will redeem my life from the grave; He will surely take me to Himself." 

Kidner says, "The great But God is one of the mountain-tops of the Old Testament hope."  The people in O.T. times did not yet understand the resurrection, but they did hope in life after death.  Their hope is our assurance.  We don't have to wonder:  Jesus came, died for our sins, and conquered death when He rose from the grave and returned to His rightful place with God.  

In this psalm and in our times, there is a present economy when often the "wicked" prosper over the righteous.  Even in the ancient times, the psalmist warns against envy of the ungodly who prosper, or feeling inferior to them as all that they are living for will perish...BUT GOD will raise up those who fear Him into a glorious future beyond the grave.  There is a new economy coming when God flips the table and the righteous will rule.  

To be sure it is not a sin to be wealthy.  Wiersbe had several thought on this:

"It isn't a sin to have wealth, provided we earned it honestly, spend it wisely, and invest it faithfully in that which pleases the Lord"
and
"It's good to have things that money can buy, if we don't lose the things money can't buy.  It's sad when people start to confuse prices with values."

They say comparison is the thief of joy.  I love this as I spent my youth comparing myself to my surroundings.  The psalmist points to where our true joy comes from...knowing we are redeemed and there is a glorious life beyond this temporary one.  "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen in eternal." (2 Cor. 4:18) "Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things" (Col.3:2).  It's a message as old as time, but still relevant today.