Here is, 1. A good caution against presuming upon time to come: Boast
not thyself, no, not of to-morrow, much less of many days or years to
come. This does not forbid preparing for to-morrow, but presuming upon
to-morrow. We must not promise ourselves the continuance of our lives
and comforts till to-morrow, but speak of it with submission to the
will of God and as those who with good reason are kept at uncertainty
about it. We must not take thought for the morrow (Matt. vi. 34), but
we must cast our care concerning it upon God. See James iv. 13-15. We
must not put off the great work of conversion, that one thing needful,
till to-morrow, as if we were sure of it, but to-day, while it is
called to-day, hear God's voice. 2. A good consideration, upon which
this caution is grounded: We know not what a day may bring forth, what
event may be in the teeming womb, of time; it is a secret till it is
born, Eccl. xi. 5. A little time may produce considerable changes, and
such as we little think of. We know not what the present day may bring
forth; the evening must commend it. Nescis quid serus vesper
vehat--Thou knowest not what the close of evening may bring with it.
God has wisely kept us in the dark concerning future events, and
reserved to himself the knowledge of them, as a flower of the crown,
that he may train us up in a dependence upon himself and a continued
readiness for every event, Acts i. 7.