When Distressing Anxieties Are No More

ANXIETY has been defined as “painful or apprehensive uneasiness of mind usu[ally] over an impending or anticipated ill.” Hence, an extremely anxious person experiences distress. And who enjoys being distressed?

EFFORTS AT OVERCOMING ANXIETIES

Hoping to cope with life’s anxieties, many turn to tranquilizing drugs. For example, during one recent year, in the United States alone, about 57 million prescriptions were filled for just one type of drug​—a tranquilizer. However, there are dangers to consider. Writing in the New York Post of April 26, 1978, Harriet Van Horne stated: “About 30 million women use tranquilizers, the [National Institute of Drug Abuse] reports, and 16 million take barbiturates. Last year 200,000 Americans entered drug abuse programs, and they were all taking prescription drugs.” Actually, then, anxieties may be increased in this effort to cope with them.

Some turn to the accumulation of money in the quest for freedom from anxiety. Not long ago, an electronics technician in Toronto was enticed by advertisements to sell his house and put the entire sum ($50,000, Canadian) into lottery tickets. He won only $1,500 and two travel vouchers that expired the very day he got them. Clearly, a hoped-for accumulation of money may cause anxiety instead of relieving it.

Anxiety about the future weighs on the mind of many. For one thing, there is the ever-present danger that heavily armed nations eventually will use their deadly weapons, with disastrous consequences to mankind. The journal To the Point International said editorially: “Most Western military observers take it for granted that a showdown between East and West is inevitable. . . . Calculations have been made, down to the details, about the effects of a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union on the major cities of the United States . . . The theorists play with mind-boggling figures, like 70 million dead from a single devastating attack.” Such words certainly do nothing to allay anxiety about the future.

So it goes. Anxieties multiply and persist, and each individual doubtless has his own private causes of distress. Was life meant to be that way?

ANXIETIES PART OF GOD’S PURPOSE?

No. It was not the original purpose of Jehovah God for humans to be weighed down with anxieties. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, did not find it difficult to acquire the necessities of life. Why, mankind’s first home was a paradise that abounded with food! Jehovah had “made to grow out of the ground every tree desirable to one’s sight and good for food.” Paradise could have been spread earth wide and man could have passed on to his offspring sinless perfection, with the prospect of everlasting life amid security and abundance. But through disobedience to God, that first human pair lost eternal life and all that it promised.​—Gen. 2:9, 16, 17; 3:1-7, 17-24.

Despite human sin and imperfection, however, God has made provision for mankind. If the people of ancient Israel were faithful to him, Jehovah promised to bless them so abundantly that the sowing of seed would overlap the harvest because of the great productivity. (Lev. 26:3-5; compare Amos 9:13.) Also, the apostle Paul could tell residents of Lystra: “God . . . did not leave himself without witness in that he did good, giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts to the full with food and good cheer.” (Acts 14:15-17) For that matter, God arranged the weather cycles of the earth so as to assure a never-ending supply of good food. (Eccl. 1:6, 7) Under such circumstances, there would be no anxiety about life’s necessities.

Besides providing amply for the needs of his servants, Jehovah is “the One executing judgment for the defrauded ones.” (Ps. 146:7) It never was God’s purpose that ‘man should dominate man to his injury.’ (Eccl. 8:9) So, if God’s will were done on earth as it is in heaven, would there be reason for distressing anxiety about life’s necessities or the security and welfare of those who love God? (Matt. 6:9, 10) No, indeed. Jehovah did not purpose that humans should be weighed down with anxiety.

REASON AND REMEDY FOR WORLD WOES

Jehovah God is not the Source of mankind’s plaguing anxieties. Rather, these have resulted from the disobedience of our first human parents, Adam and Eve. For disobeying God, they lost their original intimacy with him, as well as their tranquillity. Sinful Adam could bequeath to his offspring only sin and imperfection, with all the anxieties that mar human life. (Rom. 5:12) But behind all of this was a spirit creature, Satan the Devil. This “original serpent” induced man to sin in the first place.​—Gen. 3:14, 15; Rev. 12:9.

The Christian apostle John wrote of a time when Michael, or Jesus Christ, and his angels would oust the Devil and his demon angels from heaven. (Rev. 12:7-9) Then the apostle heard a loud voice in heaven that said, in part: “Be glad, you heavens and you who reside in them! Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.”​—Rev. 12:12.

Yes, there is a reason for anxieties and world woes. But is there a remedy? Indeed there is! We are assured in the Scriptures: “For his part, the God who gives peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. May the undeserved kindness of our Lord Jesus be with you.”​—Rom. 16:20.

WHEN DISTRESSING ANXIETIES HAVE VANISHED

So, then, Jehovah God is perfectly capable of bringing distressing anxieties to an end, and this he will surely do. Nineteen centuries ago, the apostle Peter urged fellow Christians to keep “Jehovah’s day” in mind. We, too, need to have confidence in the fulfillment of the apostle’s next words: “But there are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell.” Indeed, we should conduct ourselves with the realization that the “day of Jehovah” is near, “at the doors,” and we should be ready for it, for it will mean the removal of the present wicked system of things. Replacing it will be the marvelous new order that God has promised.​—2 Pet. 3:10-13; Matt. 24:33, 34; Luke 21:34-36.

That new system of things will vanquish sorrow, distress and plaguing anxiety. What blessings will then flow to obedient mankind by means of God’s heavenly kingdom under the Messianic King Jesus Christ!

When Jesus was on earth as a man, twice he multiplied bread and fish to feed thousands. And there were leftovers. (Mark 6:37-44; 8:1-9) So there will be no anxiety over food and drink under Kingdom rule.

What about clothing? No need for anxiety in that case either. After all, Jesus said to his disciples: “On the matter of clothing, why are you anxious? Take a lesson from the lilies of the field, how they are growing; they do not toil, nor do they spin; but I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. If, now, God thus clothes the vegetation of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much rather clothe you, you with little faith?” (Matt. 6:28-30) The answer is obvious. God can do it​—and he will, in the new system he has promised.

Will providing adequate shelter then pose a problem? Not for Jehovah God, who prepared a paradise home for our first parents. He certainly can furnish suitable abodes for those trusting in him. And inhabitants of earth in the new system surely will not enjoy less than what was once foretold for God’s people: “They will certainly build houses and have occupancy . . . They will not build and someone else have occupancy.” (Isa. 65:21, 22) There will be no reason for anxiety over housing when God’s will is done earth wide.

What about poor health, a cause of great anxiety for many? Well, God’s Word assures us that Jehovah is able to remove diseases. (Deut. 7:15) According to one Gospel account, God’s Son, Jesus Christ, “cured all who were faring badly; that there might be fulfilled what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He himself took our sicknesses and carried our diseases.’” (Matt. 8:16, 17; compare Isaiah 53:4.) Hence, there is no reason for undue anxiety about the removal of maladies under Kingdom rule.

But not only did Jesus perform numerous cures; he was able to dispel the distress associated with death. How? By resurrecting persons to life. For instance, think of the great relief from anxiety and grief experienced when he raised the son of the widow of Nain. (Luke 7:11-17) And what happiness there was when Jesus resurrected his friend Lazarus of Bethany! (John 11:1, 30-44) When on earth, Christ gave the assurance that ‘those in the tombs would hear his voice and come out.’ (John 5:28, 29) Surely, that promise is certain of fulfillment, since Jesus was able to raise the dead when on earth.​—Acts 24:15.

The “day of Jehovah” will bring wickedness and great anxieties to an end. What a blessing that will be! How grand to live when there will be no anxiety over food, clothing and shelter, when illness will be replaced by radiant health, and when resurrections will replace mankind’s march to death! Indeed, it will be a delight to live when distressing anxieties are no more.