The saint on the other hand has at his or her disposal the proper equipment for life's prolonged fight. For us, such times of special danger to Christian character may arise from temporal fluctuations. Joy and prosperity are sure to come as sorrows. To Paul the 'evil day' is that which especially threatens moral and spiritual character, and these may be damaged by the bright sunshine of prosperity as by the midwinter of adversity, fierce sunshine may be just as fatal as the killing frost. We may be like soldiers sitting securely round their camp fire, till all at once bullets begin to fall among them.
Nothing is so certain as the unexpected.
For these reasons then, because the 'evil day' will certainly come, because is may come at any time, and because it is most likely to come 'when we look not for it,' it is the dictate of plain common sense to be prepared. The main point of the exhortation is the need for previous preparation. If a sailor puts off learning navigation until the wind was howling and a reef lay ahead, his corps would be corps on the cruel rocks. The manner in which this preparation is to be carried out is distinctly marked here. It is not exercised in our own strength, but by dependence on Him.