Avoiding being at ease

My previous post covered the pursuit for spiritual joy. But in this post, I want to mention the need to avoid earthly comfort. That does not mean we should avoid earthly successes, but we must avoid letting those earthly successes crowd out our pursuit of spiritual joy.

Consider, for example, Job, who, at the beginning of the book, has tremendous earthly possessions and successes. Then, as part of a spiritual test, God allows Satan to take it all away. At one point in his lengthy discourses, Job laments (Job 16:12, KJV),

I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.

For many of us, when we find ourselves "at ease," our spiritual zeal can begin to wane. Heavenly afflictions might serve to refocus our spiritual efforts, but let us attempt a spiritual quickening before those afflictions arrive. We can do so by praying along the lines (Psalm 143:11, KJV),

Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name's sake.