Need for Seeking Jehovah

Of course, Jehovah does not force us to come to him.  We must seek him, "grope for him and really find him, although, in fact, he is not far off from each one of us." (Acts 17:27) We must recognize Jehovah's right to call for our subjection.  The disciple James wrote:  "Subject yourselves, therefore, to God; but oppose the Devil, and he will flee from you.  Draw close to god, and he will draw close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you indecisive ones." (James 4:7, 8) We should not hesitate to take a firm stand  against the Devil and for Jehovah. 

This means distancing ourselves from Satan's wicked system of things.  James also wrote:  "Do you not know that the friendship with the world is in enmity with God?  Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world is constituting himself an enemy of God."  (James 4:4) Conversely, if we want to be Jehovah's friends, we must expect Satan's world to hate us. -John 15:19; 1 John 3:13. 

When Satan's world opposes us in some particular way, we need especially to approach Jehovah in prayer, asking for his help.  David, who  felt Jehovah's saving hand so many times, wrote for our comfort:   "Jehovah is near to all those calling upon him in trueness.  The desire  of those fearing him he will perform, and their cry for help he will hear, and he will save them. Jehovah is guarding all those loving him,  but  all the wicked ones he will annihilate."  (Psalm 145:18-20) This psalm shows that Jehovah can save us when we are tested individually and that he will save his people collectively at the time of "the great tribulation." (Revelation 7:14) Jehovah will stay close  to us if we stay close to him.  Guided by "the spirit of God," the prophet Azariah stated what we can take as an overall truth:  "Jehovah is with you as long as  you prove to be with him; and if you search for him, he will let himself be found by you, but if you leave him he will leave you." -2 Chronicles 15:1, 2. 

Next time: Jehovah Must Be Real to Us

From the Watchtower magazine, 2002