February 4

Woe to those at ease in Zion and those secure on Mount Samaria, the distinguished ones of the foremost nation, to whom the house of Israel comes. — Amos 6:1 BSB

Bunyan, in his plain, simple way, said, “A Christian man is never long at ease; when one fright’s gone, another does him seize.”

Sin will not let him rest for long, nor will Satan, nor will God, nor will his own fears. He cannot be at ease until his conscience is cleansed by the blood of Christ; until his soul is blessed with the love of God; until he has sweet experiences of pardoning mercy and clear revelations of Christ. This is not the ease of Moab (Jeremiah 48:11), but the ease spoken of in Psalm 25:13: “His soul shall dwell at ease.” Any other kind of ease is the sleep of a sluggard or carnal ease, the opposite of spiritual rest.

So if a Christian falls into carnal ease, where sin does not trouble him, Satan does not tempt him, and the world does not oppose him, he feels something is wrong. He knows he has lost his burden, but not in the right way, and he would rather have it back than be counted among those at ease in Zion.