Do you know what it means to suffer? Do you know the significance of suffering? The real significance of suffering is twofold: to suffer is to have no rest, and to suffer is to have no enjoyment.
God created man with the appetite, the aspiration, for rest and enjoyment. God created man with such an aspiration because God’s intention was that man would continually seek after Him. Therefore, every human being is seeking rest and enjoyment.
Rest requires satisfaction. If a person does not have satisfaction, he cannot have rest. From experience we know that we can rest only when we are satisfied. Furthermore, satisfaction comes from enjoyment. Hence, if we do not have enjoyment, we do not have satisfaction; and if we do not have satisfaction, we do not have rest. Everyone is hungering and thirsting for rest and enjoyment. To be without rest and enjoyment is to suffer.
The reason a brother desires to get married is that he is seeking rest and enjoyment. He thinks that he cannot find rest in anyone other than a wife. He regards marriage as something that will provide rest and enjoyment. Likewise, a sister desires a husband because she thinks that married life will be a “couch” on which she may rest.
Why do we need marriage? We need marriage because we want rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment. However, how much real rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment do you experience in your married life? Many can testify that in married life the suffering may be greater than the rest and satisfaction and that the troubles may be greater than the enjoyment. Suffering in married life may be caused even by the issue of whether the bedroom window should be open or closed. A husband and wife may argue over a matter such as this. Although people get married because they need rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment, the real rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment are not found in married life.
We have seen that the rich, as well as the poor, have their sufferings in life. For example, someone with a large savings account may worry about inflation. Even though he has thousands of dollars in the bank, he may still be anxious about money.
In every area of human life the “debit” side may be greater than the “credit” side. This means that whatever choice we make regarding a particular matter, the result may be more debit than credit. Whether we are married or unmarried, rich or poor, the debit may be larger than the credit.
The destiny of every unsaved person whether married or unmarried, rich or poor, is hell. This is why people need God’s salvation; this is why they need the gospel. Without God’s salvation, a person is going downward to hell, no matter what his situation may be. Those who are educated and cultured and those who are uneducated and uncultured are all going downward to hell. Because they are on this downward way, they cannot have any rest. How they need to hear the preaching of the gospel, the sounding out of the jubilee!
Fallen mankind has lost God and is in bondage. Consider the situation of the children of Israel in Egypt. All the Israelites were under bondage. It may seem that Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, was superior, but he also was in bondage. Both the Israelites and the Egyptians had lost God and were in bondage. Likewise, today fallen mankind is in bondage. The rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated, the married and the unmarried—all are in bondage. Only when we have God are we no longer in bondage, for God is our release, our liberty, even our liberation.
Because fallen man has lost God and is in bondage, he does not have the real rest or enjoyment. This is the result, the issue, of man’s fall.