Enough Food for All!
BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN BRAZIL
IT IS possible to enjoy plentiful, excellent food and yet still be unhappy. To have true and lasting happiness, something else is needed—spiritual food. Jesus stated: “Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth.”—Matthew 4:4.
On the other hand, rejecting God’s Word leads to spiritual hunger, as foretold at Amos 8:11: “I will send a famine into the land, a famine, not for bread, and a thirst, not for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah.” However, spiritual malnutrition can be avoided. Declared Jesus: “Happy are those conscious of their spiritual need . . . Happy are those hungering and thirsting for righteousness, since they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:3, 6) As nutritious food in proper quantities satisfies our body, wholesome spiritual food strengthens our faith and our hope for the future. What kind of world can we hope for?
Plenty of Food for All
Imagine a world with an abundance of delicious and wholesome food. A world without wars, disasters, or misfortunes that cause starvation or malnutrition, which weakens or depresses people. There will no longer be homeless or unemployed people depending on soup distribution or handouts, neither will soaring food prices force people to eat just anything to fill the stomach. “There will come to be plenty of grain on the earth; on the top of the mountains there will be an overflow.” (Psalm 72:16) But how will this come about? Who will solve the problem of malnutrition?
Our Creator will give loving attention to man’s need for adequate food. Even earth’s climate will be under control, thus guaranteeing that there will no longer be any crop failures. “Jehovah, for his part, will give what is good, and our own land will give its yield.” (Psalm 85:12) Furthermore, although the earth is capable of producing enough food, only God’s Kingdom will end greed and oppression, which lead to inadequate distribution, malnutrition, and misery.
Yes, Jehovah’s heavenly government will see to it that any agricultural and transportation systems available will provide wholesome food where it is needed. The Kingdom administration will not enrich a few and leave the majority to eke out a living. Instead of despair and hopelessness, Kingdom blessings will bring the joy manifested in the great banquet of good things foretold at Isaiah 25:6: “Jehovah of armies will certainly make for all the peoples, in this mountain, a banquet of well-oiled dishes, a banquet of wine kept on the dregs, of well-oiled dishes filled with marrow.”
Now, visualize today’s competitive, stressful, unfeeling life-style gone forever. No one will be undernourished or sick. Therefore, if you really want to enjoy life in that new world, heed Jesus’ words: “Work, not for the food that perishes, but for the food that remains for life everlasting.”—John 6:27.