Covetousness

“I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?” – 2 Samuel 12:8-9

When God sends Nathan to confront David, Nathan talks about covetousness, something so often at the root of other sins. It’s no accident that it’s the one commandment Paul mentions in Romans 7:7 when he explains how the law reveals our sin. It is the last of the ten commandments, and in a way underlies those before it. And while the preceding commandments are perfunctory (“You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal.”), God is strikingly specific when it comes to coveting: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Ex 20:17).

This is worth ruminating on, because I find that covetousness is essentially normalized by our consumeristic culture. Consumerism breeds covetousness. Consumerism is more than simply the consumption of goods; it is a worldview that tells us we must acquire ever more or ever better goods as a means to deserved self-gratification or self-actualization. It works best when we set our sights on something specific: it starts with generalized discontentment and moves towards specific envy.

It tells us marriage is about making ourselves happy, not sacrificially loving someone else. That sex is about self-gratification, not relational giving. That jobs are about self-glorification or earning esteem to feel good, not a sense of vocation or calling. That parenting is about having kids who fulfill your own ambitions or make you look good, not stewardship for God’s kingdom. That material possessions are about comfort or status, not experiencing God’s faithful provision. And so it is easy to feel discontent if we don’t have the spouse, sexual partner, parenting outcomes, or possessions that we want or feel we should have. It’s easy to covet what we see around us.

At heart, coveting is despising God’s word. We despise what he has given us, but we are also despising his invitation to ask him instead for what we want. Isn’t it interesting that God says, “And if this were too little, I would add to you much more”? Do we really believe that? Do we believe Jesus when he says, “how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him” (Matthew 5)? Asking takes vulnerability and trust. It forces us to examine our worldviews and confront the nature of our longings. It opens us to experiencing the love of our father God. It is far easier to simmer into discontentment or fall into envy. May God expose any covetousness or self-focused consumerism in our hearts, and lead us instead to see His goodness and long for His glory in our lives.