1/ Suffering comes with the freedom to choose.
The LORD God put the man in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and to look after it. But the LORD told him, “You may eat fruit from any tree in the garden…(Gen 2:15-16)
When Adam and Eve sinned in The garden Of Eden, it wasnt simply because they doubted God’s Word. At the heart of the problem was the belief that they had enough wisdom in and of themselves, to decide what is good, what is right. They trusted to their own personal judgment, apart from God’s express Word to them personally. Whenever we are thus opposed to God’s Word, trouble will surely ensue. We will always open up ourselves to all sorts of problems
From the outset, people in today,s world can run with one of two choices in life. Interpret our life task as being responsible to society or as being responsible to our own conscience.
A good conscience in work clothes might for example show loving parents who long to protect their children from the pains of being in this world. But wise parents also know the danger of over-protection. They know that the freedom to choose is at the very heart of what it means to be human, and that a world without choice would be by far, worse than a world without pain. Imagine a world populated by people who could make wrong choices without feeling the pain of said choices. No one is more dangerous than the liar, thief, or killer who does not feel the harm or the pain that they are causing.
What is called self-actualization today is not an attainable goal for anyone, no matter what Maslow or anyone else says. For the simple reason that the more one would strive for it, the more they would be sure to miss it. Perhaps, no one can really change some situations that are causing their sufferings. We can still choose our attitude. Our response. For example, I did not choose to get 50% of my body burned, but I did choose to never let those burns and subsequent pain and surgery break me.
In verity, Jesus has always proffered “free choice” to us, just as He did with the first pair in Eden. The Lord has said:
“…choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15)
God gave Adam and Eve responsibility and choice for The Garden and told them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Rather than physically preventing them both from eating, God gave them a choice and, thus, the possibility of choosing wrongly. God still gives us choices, and we, too, often choose wrong. These wrong choices may cause us pain, but they can help us learn and grow and make better choices in the future. Living with the consequences of our choices teaches us to think and choose more carefully.
“Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other. (Jer 30:15)
Another Bible story, about Saul, also describes for us the path to self-reliance and the trouble that always follows. Samuel anointed Saul as King (1 Sam 10:1), and then he gave Saul specific instructions, (1 Sam 10:8), but Saul chose to disobey. (1 Sam 13:1-14) outlines what Saul did that led to his own downfall. There were three steps taken that led to his downfall. Each one might seem like a little thing, but because they were all taken independently of God, they led to major trouble.
1) Saul said “I saw.” meaning the scattering of his troops and Samuel’s absence. (1 Sam 13:11). Saul was under pressure and he evaluated with his own eyes and understanding what was happening.
2) Saul moved from “I saw,” to “I said,” that the Phillistines would conquer them. (1 Sam 13:12). What Saul saw with his own eyes shaped what he had said or surmised, about the situation that was then at hand. (1 Sam 13;12)
3) Saul then moved from an “I said” to saying “I felt,” compelled to offer a sacrifice. (1 Sam 13:12) What Saul now was thinking in his own wisdom, was now shaping his feelings and his actions in response to said feelings.
We have all done this. Relied on our own human eyesight. Our own thinking and human wisdom, which will always lead us to rely on our own, very faulty human feelings and judgments. And the trouble begins as we act upon those feelings rather than God’s own, express word.
Decision, Choice to Be Based on Evidence.
It is not the plan of God to compel people to yield their wicked unbelief. Before them are light and darkness, truth and error. It is for them to decide which to accept. The human mind is endowed with power to discriminate between right and wrong. God designs that we shall not decide from impulse, but from weight of evidence, carefully comparing scripture with scripture (Redemption: or the Miracles of Christ, pp. 112, 113).
There is no greater deception than for humanity to suppose that in any difficulty we can find a better guide than God, a wiser counselor in any emergency, a stronger defense under any circumstance (MS 66, 1898). {2BC 993.3}