“How Long . . . Must I Cry for Help?”

“I just want the pain to stop!” wept Jayne. She had cancer, and it was spreading through her body. How her family and friends wished they could simply remove her disease and her agony! They prayed to God to help her. Would he listen? Did he care?

GOD is aware of the condition of the human family. His Word, the Bible, says: “All creation keeps on groaning together and being in pain together.” (Romans 8:22) God knows that there are hundreds of millions of people who, like Jayne, are in pain every day, be it physical, emotional, or mental. God sees the 800 million people who go to bed hungry every night, the millions of others who suffer from domestic violence, and the many parents who fret about the future and the welfare of their children. Have you ever wondered whether God will take action? Surely, since we want to help our loved ones, would not God want to help the human family, his creation?

If you have asked those same questions, you are not alone. Over 2,600 years ago, a faithful man, Habakkuk, felt as many today do, and he asked God: “How long, O Jehovah, must I cry for help, and you do not hear? How long shall I call to you for aid from violence, and you do not save? Why is it that you make me see what is hurtful, and you keep looking upon mere trouble? And why are despoiling and violence in front of me, and why does quarreling occur, and why is strife carried?” (Habakkuk 1:2, 3) Habakkuk, a Hebrew prophet, witnessed shocking acts of mindless violence and aggression in his day. Today, such acts are everyday news that appalls compassionate people.

Did God belittle Habakkuk’s concerns? No. He listened to Habakkuk’s sincere questions and then comforted and encouraged the distressed man. Jehovah God fortified Habakkuk’s faith with a promise that He will end suffering. God’s message of hope can reassure you too, as it did Jayne and her family. The following articles will answer these questions: How can we be sure that God really cares about us? What will God do to end suffering, and when?

God Really Cares​—How We Know

IT IS an old but important question, one that people have pondered for millenniums: If God loves us, why is there so much suffering? You probably agree that if you love someone, you do not want that person to suffer, and if he or she were in trouble, you would try to help. Accordingly, many feel that since there is so much suffering in the world, God cannot possibly care for us. It is important, therefore, that we first consider the evidence that God really does love us, that God cares.

Creation Testifies to God’s Love

Jehovah God is “the One who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things in them.” (Acts 4:24) As we contemplate what Jehovah has produced, we surely must conclude that he cares for us. Think, for example, about the things that give you delight and pleasure. Do you like good food? Jehovah could have provided just one kind of food to sustain our life. Instead, he created an endless variety of foods to delight our palate. Likewise, Jehovah has adorned the earth with a marvelous array of trees, flowers, and landscapes to make life enjoyable and interesting for us.

Consider also the way we are made. Our sense of humor, our ability to enjoy music, and our capacity for appreciating beauty are not necessary to sustain life​—all are gifts from God that enrich our life. And think about your relationship with others. Who does not enjoy the warm companionship of good friends or the embrace of someone for whom we have deep affection? Why, the ability to love is itself a gift from a God who loves! Since God created in humans the ability to love, that quality must be a part of God’s personality.

The Bible Assures Us of God’s Love

The Bible tells us that God is love. (1 John 4:8) Not only is his love manifest in creation but it is also evident in his Word, the Bible. For example, the Bible gives guidelines that contribute to good health, encourages moderation in all things, and warns against drunkenness and gluttony.​—1 Corinthians 6:9, 10.

The Bible also gives wise counsel about human relations, urging us to love one another and to treat others with respect, dignity, and kindness. (Matthew 7:12) It condemns practices and attitudes that bring suffering​—greed, gossip, envy, adultery, and murder. If everyone tried to live by the fine counsel found in the Scriptures, there would surely be much less suffering worldwide.

The greatest manifestation of God’s love, however, was the giving of his Son, Jesus, to ransom mankind. John 3:16 states: “God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.” Thus Jehovah has already arranged to bring a permanent end to death and every form of suffering.​—1 John 3:8.

Clearly, there is abundant proof that Jehovah loves us. It follows, then, that it gives him no pleasure to see us suffer. He will act to end suffering. We do not have to speculate on the matter​—the Bible tells us exactly how God will eliminate suffering.

A Global Problem, a Global Solution

SUFFERING is seen everywhere, and many are those who respond to it compassionately. Medical personnel, for example, work long shifts in hospitals to help those who are ill or injured. Firefighters, police, lawmakers, and rescue personnel strive to alleviate or prevent the suffering of others. Such efforts do much to help people on a personal level, but it is beyond the reach of any individual or organization to eliminate suffering earth wide. In contrast, God can and will bring about a global solution.

Assurance is found in the last book of the Bible: “[God] will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4) Consider the scope of that promise. It summarizes God’s purpose to bring an end to all suffering. He will do that by ridding the earth of war, hunger, sickness, and injustice, along with all the wicked people. No human can accomplish that.

What God’s Kingdom Will Do

God will fulfill his promises through the second most powerful person in the universe​—the resurrected Jesus Christ. The time is coming when Jesus will rule unopposed as King over the entire earth. Mankind will no longer be governed by human kings, presidents, or politicians. Instead, they will be ruled by one King and one government​—the Kingdom of God.

That Kingdom will do away with every human government. Long ago, the Bible foretold: “The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite.” (Daniel 2:44) Peoples of all the earth will be united under one righteous government​—God’s Kingdom.

When he was on earth as a man, Jesus spoke on many occasions about that Kingdom. He referred to it in the model prayer, instructing his disciples to pray in this way: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.” (Matthew 6:10) Notice that Jesus indicated that the Kingdom is linked to God’s will being done on the earth, and it is God’s will to eliminate suffering earth wide.

God’s righteous government will bring blessings that no human government ever could. Recall that Jehovah gave his Son as a ransom so that humans might receive everlasting life. Under the benevolent rulership of the Kingdom, people will progress to perfection. The result? Jehovah “will actually swallow up death forever, and the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will certainly wipe the tears from all faces.”​—Isaiah 25:8.

Some might ask: ‘Why has God not acted before now? What is he waiting for?’ Jehovah could have acted long ago to eliminate or even prevent all suffering. Instead, he has allowed it to continue, not for any selfish reason, but for the everlasting benefit of his children on earth. Loving parents will allow their child to undergo hardships if they know that this will bring long-term benefits. Similarly, there are good reasons why Jehovah has allowed humans to suffer temporarily, and these reasons are explained in the Bible. They involve such things as free will, sin, and an issue concerning the rightfulness of Jehovah’s rulership. The Bible also explains that, for a limited time, an evil spirit creature has been allowed to rule the world.a

Though space limits our discussing those reasons here, there are two facts that can give us hope and encouragement. The first is this: Jehovah will more than make up for any suffering we may have experienced. Moreover, God assures us: “The former things will not be called to mind, neither will they come up into the heart.” (Isaiah 65:17) God will undo, completely and permanently, the misery and suffering resulting from the temporary permission of evil.

The second fact is this: God has set an unalterable time to end suffering. Recall that the prophet Habakkuk asked how long Jehovah would permit violence and strife. Jehovah replied: “The vision is yet for the appointed time . . . It will not be late.” (Habakkuk 2:3) As we will see in the next article, that “appointed time” is near.

[Footnote]

[Box on page 7]

Scriptures That Point to a Bright Future

NO MORE WARS:

“Come, you people, behold the activities of Jehovah, how he has set astonishing events on the earth. He is making wars to cease to the extremity of the earth.”​—Psalm 46:8, 9.

LOVED ONES RETURN:

“There is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.”​—Acts 24:15.

FOOD FOR ALL:

“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.

SICKNESS WILL BE NO MORE:

“No resident will say: ‘I am sick.’”​—Isaiah 33:24.

WICKED PEOPLE WILL BE GONE:

“As regards the wicked, they will be cut off from the very earth; and as for the treacherous, they will be torn away from it.”​—Proverbs 2:22.

JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL:

“Look! A king [Christ Jesus] will reign for righteousness itself; and as respects princes, they will rule as princes for justice itself.”​—Isaiah 32:1.

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God’s Kingdom will remedy any suffering we may have experienced

The “Appointed Time” Is Near

LIKE the prophet Habakkuk, the disciples of Jesus yearned to see an end to suffering. Having learned what the Kingdom of God would do to correct matters on earth, they asked Jesus: “When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence [in Kingdom power] and of the conclusion of the system of things?” (Matthew 24:3) In reply, Jesus said that only Jehovah God knew the precise time when the Kingdom would take full control of the earth. (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32) However, Jesus and others did foretell certain developments that would show that the time was near.​—See box at right.

Would you not agree that these things are commonplace today? Jesus also foretold that an educational work would be accomplished earth wide. He said: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.”​—Matthew 24:14.

That is exactly what is happening today. Jehovah’s Witnesses are doing that work. In some 236 lands, more than seven million Witnesses are telling people what the Kingdom will do, and they are helping them to conform to the righteous requirements of God, whose will it is to end suffering and pain. Continue to learn about God’s Kingdom, and you will have the prospect of living in a world without suffering​—forever.

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Scriptures That Point to the Last Days

MATTHEW 24:6, 7; REVELATION 6:4

• Unprecedented warfare

MATTHEW 24:7; MARK 13:8

• Great earthquakes

• Food shortages

LUKE 21:11; REVELATION 6:8

• Pestilences

MATTHEW 24:12

• Increasing lawlessness

• Love cooling off

REVELATION 11:18

• Ruining of the earth

2 TIMOTHY 3:2

• Inordinate love of money

• Disobedience to parents

• An excessive love of self

2 TIMOTHY 3:3

• A lack of natural affection

• People not open to any agreement

• Self-control lacking at all levels of society

• Widespread loss of love of goodness

2 TIMOTHY 3:4

• Loving pleasures more than God

2 TIMOTHY 3:5

• Many hypocritically claiming to be Christian

MATTHEW 24:5, 11; MARK 13:6

• Many false prophets active

MATTHEW 24:9; LUKE 21:12

• Persecution of true Christians

MATTHEW 24:39

• People taking no note of Biblical warnings

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Earth wide, Jehovah’s Witnesses teach others about God’s Kingdom