Times Have Changed
WHAT a joy it must have been to live in ancient Israel under the glorious reign of faithful King Solomon! It was an era of peace, prosperity, and happiness. During the time that Solomon stood firm for true worship, Jehovah blessed the nation abundantly. To King Solomon, God gave not only great wealth but also “a wise and understanding heart” in order for Solomon to rule in righteousness and love. (1 Kings 3:12) States the Bible: “All the kings of the earth were seeking the face of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which the true God had put in his heart.”—2 Chronicles 9:23.
To the people, Jehovah gave security, peace, and an abundance of good things. God’s Word says: “Judah and Israel were many, like the grains of sand that are by the sea for multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing.” Both literally and figuratively, the people “continued to dwell in security, everyone under his own vine and under his own fig tree . . . all the days of Solomon.”—1 Kings 4:20, 25.
Times have changed. Life today is a far cry from those happy days of long ago. Unlike in the time of Solomon, a major problem today is poverty. Even in wealthy nations, there is poverty. For example, in both the United States and the European Union, almost 15 percent of the people live in poverty, notes the United Nations Development Program.
Concerning the global picture, The State of the World’s Children 1994, a report by UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund), observes that one fifth of the world’s population lives in absolute poverty, adding that life for most of the world’s poor is “becoming increasingly hard and desperate.”
In some countries, skyrocketing inflation adds to the difficulties of the poor. Said a woman in one African land: “You see something at the market, and you say, ‘OK, let me go home and get money to buy it.’ You get back an hour later only to be told that you can’t buy it because the price has just been increased. What is a person going to do? It’s quite frustrating.”
Another woman there said: ‘To survive, we forget about other needs. How to get food is now our preoccupation.’
According to the United Nations, the future looks bleak. UNICEF, for example, estimates that if present population trends continue, the number of poor people worldwide will quadruple “within a single lifetime.”
Yet, despite worsening economic and social conditions, God’s servants have reason to feel optimistic. Although they live among those who view the future with increasing pessimism, God’s servants look to the future with joy and confidence. The next article will explore the reasons why.
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De Grunne/Sipa Press