² “Search for Jehovah, you people, while he may be found. Call to him while he proves to be near.

Isaiah 55:6, 7.

 3. (a) Why is now the time to “search for Jehovah”? (b) In what sense is he “near”?

³ Since we have been living in the “time of the end” of this worldly system of things since the year 1914 C.E., the time that is left during which Jehovah may be found in a favorable way is by now very short. So now is the favorable time in which to search for him. A person does not have to go far in this search in order to find him. He is still near, within reach of sincere searchers for him. So now is also the time to call to him. He is not beyond hearing distance. Now, before “the great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah,” is when the reassuring words apply: “It must occur that everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will get away safe.”​—Joel 2:31, 32; Romans 10:13.

 4. (a) Explain the requirement, “let the wicked man leave his way.” (b) What is involved in leaving ‘harmful thoughts,’ and why is it important to do so?

⁴ We are told what to do in this searching for Jehovah and in order to call upon his name. Attention must be given to one’s ways of life and also to one’s thinking, which has much to do with the condition of one’s heart. This is indicated in the exhortation: “Let the wicked man leave his way, and the harmful man his thoughts; and let him return to Jehovah.” (Isaiah 55:7) Certainly, if a man who was wicked desired to search for Jehovah and find him and call upon him with acceptance, he would have to leave his way that is wicked. Jehovah hates wickedness. The wicked man would also be harmful, and so his thoughts would be of doing harm to others. In order, then, to search for Jehovah, who is a God of benevolence, he would have to change his thoughts from harmful intents to helpful, beneficial thinking.