A Life of Lasting Security
IF YOU are running a high temperature, you likely reach for a tablet to ease the headache and perhaps an ice bag to cool you down. But although the tablet and the ice bag make the symptoms endurable, they do not get to the cause of your fever. And if your health problem is serious, you need treatment from an experienced physician.
Mankind is suffering from a persistent fever of insecurity. We rightly take short-term measures to ease the unpleasant symptoms, but a cure can come only from someone who can make a comprehensive diagnosis of our situation. And no one knows mankind better than our Creator, Jehovah God. He knows that life is insecure because of problems that have been brought upon us.
Secure Start Swept Aside
God’s Word explains that Jehovah created the first human pair perfect and put them into a secure environment. They were free from anxiety. God’s purpose was for humans to live forever in a paradise, with complete security. Humankind’s first setting included “every tree desirable to one’s sight and good for food.” Notice that their physical needs were taken care of; and so were their emotional needs, since the environment was described as “desirable to one’s sight.” This no doubt meant that the first pair were placed in surroundings that assured them of a stable, trouble-free life.—Genesis 2:9.
Adam and Eve rejected God’s loving sovereign rulership, thus introducing into their lives feelings of doubt, fear, shame, guilt, and insecurity. After rejecting God, Adam admitted that he “was afraid.” The first humans covered themselves and hid from their loving Creator, with whom they had up to this time enjoyed a close and beneficial relationship.—Genesis 3:1-5, 8-10.
Jehovah’s original purpose has not changed. The Bible states that our Creator is a loving God, who will soon enable obedient mankind to restore the earth to a paradise condition and to live in security forever. Through the prophet Isaiah, the promise is given: “I am creating new heavens and a new earth; . . . exult, you people, and be joyful forever.” (Isaiah 65:17, 18) Of these new heavens and new earth, the apostle Peter says: “In these righteousness is to dwell.”—2 Peter 3:13.
How will this be achieved? Through a government put in place by Jehovah. This is the Kingdom that Jesus Christ told his followers to pray for: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.”—Matthew 6:9, 10.
The Kingdom of God will replace human governments and lovingly administer God’s purpose worldwide. (Daniel 2:44) The doubt, fear, shame, guilt, and insecurity that have plagued mankind since the days of Adam will disappear. According to the Bible, that Kingdom is near at hand. Even now, in our uncertain world, a measure of security is available to those who yearn for God’s Kingdom.
Give Spiritual Matters Priority
David was a servant of God who knew what it meant to be scared and in distress. And yet David wrote, as recorded at Psalm 4:8: “In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for you yourself alone, O Jehovah, make me dwell in security.” Jehovah gave David a feeling of security, though David was at times surrounded by problems. Can we learn something from this? How can we gain a measure of security even in an insecure world?
Consider the Genesis account about Adam and Eve. When did they lose their feeling of security? The moment they gave up their personal relationship with the Creator and refused to live in harmony with his purpose for mankind. Hence, if we reverse this process by coming into a close personal relationship with Jehovah and trying to live in harmony with his will, even now we can enjoy a far more secure life than is otherwise possible.
Getting to know Jehovah through a study of the Bible helps us to understand the meaning of life. Only then do we grasp who we are and why we are here. A secure life is possible when we love God, know his purpose for mankind, and understand where we fit in. A man named Paul discovered that several years ago.
Paul was born and raised on one of the islands just off the coast of Germany. Because of what his parents had experienced in World War II, his family had no interest in religion. Paul says of himself as a young man: “I believed in nothing and respected no one. I used to drown my sorrows in alcohol, drinking to excess two or three times a week. There was no security in my life.”
Then Paul had a discussion with one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Paul argued a lot, but one thing the Witness said made him think. “Nothing comes from nothing.” In other words, everything we see around us in nature must have a Creator.
“I thought about that over and over again, and I had to agree.” So Paul studied the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses and came to know Jehovah. He admits: “Apart from my parents, Jehovah was the first person in my life who had ever done anything for me.” Paul was baptized as a Witness in 1977 and says: “Now I know what the purpose of life really is. I enjoy living in harmony with Jehovah’s will. I feel secure, since there is nothing that can happen to me or my family that Jehovah cannot put right in the future.”
What can we learn from this experience? Paul overcame his insecurity—an emotional burden—by concentrating not on material wealth but on spiritual matters. He developed a strong relationship with the Creator. Millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses enjoy such a relationship. This gives them an inner strength that helps them to be self-sacrificing in their dealings with others. Calling on people at their homes, Jehovah’s Witnesses use their own time to help other people make their lives more secure by concentrating on spiritual matters. But the Witnesses do more than preach.
“Call on Your God, Jehovah”
In July 1997 when the Oder River flooded large areas of northern Europe, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany heard of the plight of people in neighboring Poland. What could they do? Individual Witnesses in and around Berlin showed wonderful generosity by voluntarily donating well over $116,000 within a few days.
Witnesses who were experienced in construction work traveled six hours by road—at their own expense—from Berlin to the region around Wrocław, Poland. In one small town, many houses had been severely damaged. The house belonging to a Witness family was standing in over 20 feet [6 m] of water. The daughter was planning to get married the following month and to live in the house with her husband. What could be done to repair the home and to help the family, who had lost almost everything?
Once the flood abated, a neighbor asked mockingly: “Why don’t you call on your God, Jehovah, and see whether he helps you?” How astonished the neighbor was when the next day several motor vehicles from Germany drove up to the Witness family’s home! A group of strangers climbed out of the vehicles and began making repairs on the house. “Who are they? Who is paying for the materials?” the neighbor inquired. The Witness family explained that these were their spiritual brothers and that these visitors were paying for the materials. Residents of the town looked on in amazement as the house was renovated. Incidentally, the wedding took place on the date planned.
This family discovered that belonging to the international brotherhood of Jehovah’s Witnesses brings not only spiritual benefits but also a measure of security in an insecure world. They were not alone in this experience. Throughout the stricken area, houses and Kingdom Halls of Jehovah’s Witnesses were repaired. And non-Witness neighbors were not forgotten. Much work was also done on their homes, which was greatly appreciated.
Righteousness, Quietness, and Security
When a high fever is at last gone and normal health returns, how grateful we are to the physician who helped us! When the fever of insecurity that envelops mankind is dispensed with forever—through the Kingdom of God—how grateful we will be to our Creator! Yes, he is the one promising us life in “true righteousness, quietness and security to time indefinite.” What a wonderful prospect!—Isaiah 32:17.
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We can relieve an emotional burden by concentrating not on material wealth but on spiritual matters
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God promises a new world where all will live in lasting security