John Calvin Commentary James 5:13

"Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise." — James 5:13 (ASV)

Is any among you afflicted? He means that there is no time when God does not invite us to Himself. For afflictions ought to stimulate us to pray; prosperity supplies us with an occasion to praise God. But such is the perverseness of people, that they cannot rejoice without forgetting God, and when afflicted, they are disheartened and driven to despair. We ought, then, to keep within due bounds, so that the joy, which usually makes us forget God, may induce us to set forth the goodness of God, and our sorrow may teach us to pray. For He has set the singing of psalms in opposition to profane and unbridled joy; and thus those who are led by prosperity to God, as they ought to be, express their joy.