“All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own.” Isaiah 53:6 (NLT)
Everything seems to be a battle. Nothing is easy. The fact is, life is difficult.
So, why is life so hard in this world?
The Bible says rebellion against God broke everything.
It all started back with the first couple, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden. When God created the world, everything was perfect. It was paradise. And Adam and Eve had no problems, suffering, sadness, temptations, or troubles.
But one day Adam and Eve decided that they wanted to do what they wanted to do. God told them, “You can do anything you want to in this paradise except one thing.” And what did Adam and Eve do? The one thing God told them not to do.
Why did he even give them a choice? Because without a choice, they couldn’t choose to love God. If you’re forced to love God, then it’s not real love.
Romans 5:12 says, “Sin came into the world through one man, and his sin brought death with it” (GNT). Before sin, there was no death in the world. There was no sadness in the world. There was no sorrow. There was no difficulty in the world. People would not die. Adam and Eve could have lived forever as long as it was a perfect environment. It was only when everything got broken that sin brought death into the world.
Adam and Eve weren’t the only ones who made that choice. I’ve made it, you’ve made it, and everybody else in the world has made it. We have all said, “I don’t want to do the right thing; I want to do the easy thing.” We’ve all said, “I don’t want to say the truth; I want to say what’s convenient.” We’ve all said, “I don’t want to be what God wants me to be; I want to be what I want to be.” We’ve all done this.