Job 2:10 But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God… Experience will convince us that unmixed happiness was never intended to be the portion of man in his present state. The good and evil of life are so intimately connected together that while we pursue the one we often unavoidably meet with the other. There is no condition of life but has its own troubles and inconveniences. Neither the virtuous nor the wise, the learned nor the prudent, in their pilgrimage through life, can altogether avoid those rocks which often prove so fatal to the peace of the mind. Pain, in a certain proportion, is always infused as an essential ingredient in the cup of which it is appointed for all men to drink. A general conviction of the wisdom and goodness of Providence ought, in some measure, to reconcile us to the hardships and miseries to which we are subjected while We continue in this life. But our persuasion of the rectitude of God does not rest merely on general principles. Our reason, assisted by revelation, is able to discover several wise purposes that are answered most effectually by the present mixture of good and evil in the world. It calls forth the faculties of the mind into action, and obliges men to shake off those habits of indolence and inactivity that are so fatal to the further improvement of the soul. To the happiness of man, as a reasonable being, it is necessary that his several faculties be all duly exercised on objects suited to the peculiar state of each. Only a world of difficulties and inconveniences would furnish employment for all our powers. There is in every man a natural principle of indolence, which renders him averse to exertions of every kind, but particularly to those of thought and reflection. Uninterrupted prosperity tends to increase this natural indolence. Inconveniences serve to quicken our invention, and to excite our industry, in discovering by what means we may most effectually remedy these inconveniences. I. THE EVILS OF LIFE OPEN OUR EYES AND MAKE US SENSIBLE OF REAL WANTS. They constrain us to collect all our strength, and to summon up all our resolution to withstand. Losses and disappointments rouse men to greater diligence and assiduity. Difficulties serve to form our souls to habits of attention, of diligence, and activity. Obstacles give a new spring to the mind. Difficulties overcome enhance the value of any acquisitions we may have made. II. THE EVILS OF LIFE EXERCISE AND IMPROVE THE VIRTUES OF THE HEART. The world, as a state of moral discipline, would be inadequate for its purpose if all events that befall us were of one kind. The situation most favourable to the progressive improvement of the human character is a mixed state of good and evil. Prosperity gives opportunity to practise temperance and moderation in all things. Calamities are equally favourable to the interests of virtue in the human heart. They correct levity and thoughtlessness. Adversity gives a seasonable check to vain and overweening self-conceit. A patient resignation to the good pleasure of the Almighty must likewise be reckoned among the happy fruits produced by afflictions. Adversity disengages us from this life, directs our attention, and raises our views to another and a better world. We may therefore infer how much it is our duty to acquiesce in the wisdom and goodness of Providence, which has appointed the intermixture of good and evil in this probationary state of our existence. (W. Shiels.) Parallel Verses KJV: But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. |
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