James 4:9-12 “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?” In the first verses of this fourth chapter, James has warned us against being a friend of the world. He has cautioned us against our lusts that war within us. He has warned us against unfaithfulness to God and encouraged us to draw nigh unto Him. Now we are told to “be afflicted.” The phrase as it is used here does not mean to be ill or injured in a physical sense. Rather it is a call to us to recognize our own wretched condition ...