How can you have a happy life?

Does God expect us to solve our own problems? History shows that man’s efforts to live without God’s guidance have not resulted in happiness. Why not? We were not created to live independent of God, any more than small children can live successfully without their parents’ guidance. The prophet Jeremiah acknowledged: “It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.”—Jeremiah 10:23.Of course, God expects us to do our best to cope with life’s challenges, but many of them are beyond our ability to resolve. That is why he wants us to rely on him, not on ourselves. When we do, the outcome will be good. “In all your ways take notice of [God], and he himself will make your paths straight.”— Proverbs 3:6 Does God Intend for Each of Us to Understand the Scriptures?God’s command that we teach his words to our children shows that we can understand and apply the Scriptures. How else could God expect us to carry out that command?—Deuteronomy 6:6, 7.In fact, when Moses gave the Law to the nation of Israel, he said: “This commandment that I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you . . . The word is very near you, in your own mouth and in your own heart, that you may do it.”—Deuteronomy 30:11, 14.Therefore, each of us needs to make the effort to understand God’s written Word. It is the highest spiritual authority today, just as it was in the past. Reading “the book of Jehovah’s law by the hand of Moses” moved good King Josiah to “carry out the words of the law that were written in the book.” (2 Chronicles 34:14, 21; 2 Kings 23:24) Because Josiah did so, God blessed him.