Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
(Jer. 6:16 KJV)

The twentieth century witnessed unprecedented breakthroughs in communication and technology unparalleled since the beginning of creation. Milestones of progress include the automobile, the airplane, the radio, the transistor, television, faxes and the internet, and now digital technology, to mention but a few. In the field of medicine, diagnoses and treatment of sicknesses have made quantum leaps forward. In my generation, vaccinations or cures have been found for most childhood diseases, such as smallpox, diphtheria, typhoid fever, measles and polio.

As we live in the early morning of another decade, we ask, “Will the next ten years be a decade of destiny and produce a cure for cancer or AIDS? Or a pill that will retard the aging process so we will live longer? Who knows? Back in the 1930s, some people were actually saying that we had made all the major discoveries there are and that nothing of any substance would be found in the future.

Guidelines is in its 48th year of ministry, and over the years I have kept a file of prophecies as to what life will be like in the future. I wrote the commentary you are listening to right now in Khabarovosk, Russia, once part of the vast empire of Manchuria. On that trip we visited a village on the Amur River where life is little different from what it was in the early 1900s. Life is simple, and for millions of people, not only in the Russian Far East but in Third World countries everywhere—the advancements as well as the luxuries enjoyed by many have not trickled down to the rest of the world.

The contrast between the world of technology and the world in which most people live in is vast and growing more pronounced year by year. In spite of what science and technology have accomplished, there is a universal need in the hearts of men and women everywhere. That is a need for God, who alone can fill the emptiness and loneliness of a heart which cries out, “Who am I? Why am I here? And where do I go after I die?”

And that is why the challenge is facing us today is a spiritual one, not a scientific or technological one. The challenge will be, How can I live at peace with those in our family, those in our neighborhood, and those in our world? How can we learn to resolve conflicts in families and between nations? How do we keep from preventing the same horrible mistakes which led to two world wars and the development of atomic power so ferocious that scientists say were it to be released, there would be nothing to keep us from destroying the planet?

The good news is that God still presides over the court where the affairs of life are conducted on planet Earth, and He is the one who directs in the affairs of humankind. He is still a merciful and kind God who forgives and guides in the affairs of those who trust Him from generation to generation. What we greatly need today is not greater scientific achievements but basic skills in daily living, the kind you find in God’s Word the Bible. Read it every day. Follow its guidelines. It is the only way to keep peace with God and happiness in life.

Resource reading: Joshua 3.