Let us not regard the various calamities that befal us, of whatever nature they may be, as the mere result of human design or contingency; for whether they be occasioned by our own imprudence and neglect, or by the instrumentality of an evil world, they are permitted and ordained by a wise and merciful God, to draw us nearer to Himself; to teach us the utter insufficiency of all earthly interests and possessions; and to raise our thoughts to the glory of an eternal kingdom. And if we receive them in a christian spirit, they will never fail to answer their high and holy purpose. Let us therefore watch and pray, that we may duly consider every calamitous day as a sacred opportunity, as a season of grace, as the rod of our Almighty Father to chastise us from sin: let it call us to deep meditation and contrition, to serious examination of heart; for it is only by the religious and spiritual observance of such seasons, that we can ever hope to derive from them improvement and comfort.
Remark and remember the language of the text, “Humble _yourselves_ under the mighty hand of God;” it is not enough that we be humbled, in a worldly sense, by the stroke of misfortune; that is a consequence, which may of necessity ensue: the loss of possession may drive us into needy solitude; the loss of health destroy our energy and activity; the loss of reputation bring us to shame; the loss of friends oblige us to mourn, from the very feelings of nature; but all this while, there may be no humility of heart, no self-abasement, no voluntary humiliation under “any of the dispensations of heaven:” the “hand of God hath touched us;” but we may not, nevertheless, be vitally touched ourselves, with a proper sense of the trials, which He has called us to endure: we must fall low before His footstool; we must bend our knees in humble fervent prayer; we must implore the aid of His Holy Spirit, to open our understandings, that we may perceive the graciousness of His dealings with us; and to enlarge our hearts, that we may take the full benefit of His “loving correction;” we must unfeignedly and fully confess, on our own part, that unworthiness and iniquity, which excited God’s displeasure, and required His afflicting visitation; and that mercy, on God’s part, which seeketh to reclaim us from error; to “purge our conscience from dead works;” to make us more alive to the “things which belong unto our peace;” to lead us from the vanities of time to the momentous realities of eternity.