Can We Trust God to Help?
YET, if we cannot trust humans, even world leaders, to bring about the kind of life we want, then whom can we trust? God? Do you believe he can help us with our problems now, and bring the human family into the kind of life we want?
Really, the question is this: who knows better how to help man out of his problems? The choice is between imperfect man and his all-powerful, all-wise Maker. So, which one knows best how man’s mind, emotions and body work? Surely, the Creator, who made us, knows far better than we do how to help us out of all these staggering problems.
God’s Promises
That’s why the Bible, at Psalm 37, verses 3, 4, says: “Trust in Jehovah . . . and he will give you the requests of your heart.” God promises us not only help with our problems now, but something even more wonderful. He promises a solution in the future to all mankind’s nagging problems. He promises that the time is coming when people will live forever—in complete happiness.
The very name that the Creator has taken to himself helps us to have added confidence in his promises. That name is Jehovah. It means ‘He causes to become.’ That is, he’s the fulfiller of promises. He causes his purposes to come to realization, right on time, without fail.
Notice the assurance Jehovah’s Word gives us as to his purpose for our earth. For example, Psalm 37, verses 9 to 11, says: “For evildoers themselves will be cut off, but those hoping in Jehovah are the ones that will possess the earth. And just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more . . . But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”
For how long? Ps 37 Verse 29 answers: “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.” Jesus Christ showed that this psalm will have a future fulfillment, quoting from it, and saying: “Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth.”—Matt. 5:5.
When was the last time you found “exquisite delight” in anything for a period of time? A rare occasion, is it not? But to those who serve him, Jehovah promises the kind of life where every day will be a delight, forever, without today’s depressing problems.
Why So Much Misery?
Yet, since this is God’s purpose, why has he not done it already? Why has the history of the human family been filled with such misery?
Because, in the first place, when God created the parents of the human family, Adam and Eve, he told them that their continued life and happiness depended on their serving Him. But they thought that they could do better by serving themselves. They decided to judge for themselves what was right and what was wrong. And since God created them with the capacity for free choice, he let them have what they wanted—but only for a certain period of time.
What has happened since then has proved once and for all that God was right, that man cannot be independent of his Maker and be truly happy. What Psalm 127:1 says has proved to be the truth: “Unless Jehovah himself builds the house, it is to no avail that its builders have worked hard on it.”
But now God’s time for permitting man’s foolishness has drawn near its end. All the evidence in fulfillment of Bible prophecy shows that soon God will put a stop to this experiment in man-rule. Indeed, we are very deep into the foretold “last days” mentioned at Second Timothy chapter 3, and at Matthew chapter 24, where Jesus himself foretold the ‘time of the end’ that we are in right now.
So without a doubt, man’s past record proves conclusively that he was not created with the ability, or right, to design on his own a better world, one free from hurtful problems. Only God can do that. And his Word clearly shows that he will do this, not by reforming the present system of things, but by taking it out of the way. He will annihilate it. Why? Because it is beyond reform. Instead, Jehovah has purposed to create an entirely new society made up of righteous humans.
Demonstrating the Reality
Furthermore, to give us added confidence in these promises, God is already demonstrating the reality of that better way of life to come. Where? In the lives of millions of people all over the world.
Who are these people? The Bible identifies them at Isaiah 43:10-12 as God’s dedicated servants, Jehovah’s Witnesses. They are getting the very best counsel on handling today’s problems, because that counsel comes from the very best source—from the mind of man’s Creator, Jehovah God. And it touches every aspect of daily living. It deals with the best way to handle marriage problems, the best way to bring up children, the best way to get along with friends, neighbors, relatives, employers, employees, and, even more important, the best way to come into harmony with Jehovah himself.
Where can this superior counsel of God be found? In the Bible, for Second Timothy 3:16 and 17 says: “All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of God may be fully competent.”
Yes, God’s powerful force, his holy spirit, inspired the Bible. After all, since God created the awesome universe, could he not be the author of a book? He is. By means of his active force or spirit he directed his servants to write the Bible as a guide for us. And that same spirit helps his true servants to understand it correctly. In this way we learn how best to cope with our problems today, and how we can survive these problem-filled “last days” into God’s new order.
So right now Jehovah is instructing his servants, preparing them for life in his new order. Isaiah chapter 2, verses 2 to 4, foretold this, saying: “And it must occur in the final part of the days”—(that is, right now, in these “last days,”)—“And it must occur in the final part of the days that the mountain of the house of Jehovah will become firmly established above the top of the mountains.”
God is here saying that in our time his pure worship would be lifted up like a signal so that sincere persons could turn to it. The prophecy continues: “And many peoples will certainly go and say: ‘Come, you people, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah. . . . And he will instruct us about his ways.’”
But, do God’s ways really work to solve big problems as well as little ones, especially in this modern age? Can they solve your problems?