An abundance of options prevails in our lives. To my wife and me, simply choosing something to watch from a streaming video service on Saturday night after the Sabbath has become a chore! I remember when watching something on TV was limited to about half a dozen channels broadcast over the air, and even further limited by the scheduled programming of those stations. Certainly, we had less to choose from, but it made the process of deciding a whole lot simpler.
“The Paradox of Choice” is the title of a book, published by author Barry Schwartz in 2004. In this book, Schwartz explains how having a multitude of choices in the modern world counterintuitively causes people to be less happy with their decisions. Having too many options turns out to make people less likely to feel that they have made the best decision. Yet still, people gravitate towards shaping their circumstances, so they have the greatest possible set of options to choose from. Ironically, this only works against their best interests. Maybe you can relate.
Adam and Eve began by making a choice that set the course for humankind in the way that many of their descendants would make wrong decisions. They chose the way of worldly wisdom, which is not satisfied with the simplicity of godly wisdom. After eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, their eyes were opened to a multitude of options. The vast majority of those options lead humankind towards the satisfaction of carnal desires, but further and further away from the true joy that comes from turning to God instead.
The book referenced above was written in the past 20 years, being acclaimed for its novel findings about the abundance of choice leading to a life of dissatisfaction. But the Bible revealed this problem thousands of years ago. God warned Adam and Eve that following the path of worldly wisdom, symbolized by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, would result in death (compare Genesis 2:17) and suffering (compare Genesis 3:16-19). The way of life Adam and Eve chose brought about the current state of the world. And so, today we have choices that interminably grow in number. But they will never lead us to find true fulfillment.
Fortunately, there is a better way. And it does not (necessarily) require canceling subscriptions or living off the grid. God’s Holy Spirit gives us the opportunity to choose differently. The options in life that the world offers will only provide worldly experiences. But God, through His Holy Spirit, helps us to understand that the path to a life of truly deep satisfaction is to simply obey God and love the way of life He provides. The abundance of choices available in our lives will continue to be there, but in a life dedicated to God they do not matter. They cannot provide the kind of satisfaction that a life guided by godly wisdom does.
Solomon had tremendous abundance in his life. He had so much wealth that he could have whatever he wanted that money could buy. Yet, it did not give him the satisfaction he sought. It was all a vain pursuit (compare Ecclesiastes 2:9-11). He experienced the paradox of choice as we do today. In his wisdom, he understood the solution to the paradox. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). The simple secret to living a satisfied life is to obey God.
We understand that our joy comes from refusing to participate in the paradox of choice. Simplifying our lives by reducing our options might make it easier to choose a movie to watch, but it may not guide us to abound in the Spirit. The true happiness that God provides comes from putting the power of the Holy Spirit to work, giving us godly discernment to judge righteously. Satisfaction comes from a life well-lived, choosing the path that leads to life resulting from godly obedience and wisdom.