It is normal and natural when things go wrong to begin to search for causes, to begin to look carefully at one’s attitudes and behaviors to ascertain whether one has offended God. If a person is sincere in his searchings, if he asks God to reveal his weakness, if he is indeed open enough to ask, “What lack I yet?” the Lord can awaken him to a remembrance of his duty. That is, the Spirit of Jesus Christ can bring to remembrance commitments, covenants, and divine counsel, thereby placing in vivid relief the ideal and the real in our lives.
If we are teachable, divine judgments can remind us rapidly of the ephemeral nature of this mortal sphere, of man’s powerlessness before the infinite, and of the necessity of an unconditional surrender to the will of God in order to gain the victory here and thereby qualify for eternal rewards hereafter.