A SATISFYING LIFE How to Attain It

7. A Satisfying Life-Why So Elusive?

WHY do many struggle without finding any real meaning in their lives?  "Man born of woman, is short-lived and glutted with agitation.  Like a blossom he has come forth and is cut off, and he runs away like the shadow and does not keep existing." (Job 14:1, 2) Something that ruined the bright prospects  of mankind happened to the first couple in Paradise.

For the human family to be genuinely happy, they have a  good relationship with God-one that is voluntary, not forced.  (Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Joshua 24:15)  Jehovah wants obedience and worship that come from the heart, out of love.  (Deuteronomy 6:5)  So in the garden of Eden, Jehovah made a restriction that  afforded the first man an opportunity  to prove his heartfelt loyalty.  "From every tree of the garden you may eat to satisfaction," God told Adam, "but as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die." (Genesis 2:16, 17) It was a simple test.  Jehovah forbade Adam to eat the fruit of just one tree out of all the trees in the garden.  That tree symbolized the all-wise Creator's right to decide what is good and what is bad.  The first man conveyed this God-given command to his wife, whom Jehovah provided "as a complement of [Adam]." (Genesis 2:18) They were both satisfied with this arrangement-to live under God's rulership-appreciatively submitting to his will and thereby expressing their love for their Creator and Life-Giver.

Then one day a serpent spoke to Eve and asked:  "Is it really so that God said you must not eat from every tree of the garden?" Eve answered  that they were prohibited  from eating the fruit of only "the tree that is in the middle of the garden," the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, 'that they would die.' -Genesis 3:1-3. 

Who was this serpent?  The Bible book of Revelation identifies "the original serpent" as "the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth." (Revelation 32:4) This spirit creature made himself both  the Devil, meaning Slanderer," and Satan, meaning "Resister."  He was "drawn out and enticed by his own desire," the desire to be in God's place, and he set out to rebel against the Creator.  -James 1:14. 

Next time: A SATISFYING LIFE How to Attain It - 7. A Satisfying Life-Why So Elusive?

From The Watchtower magazine