​Suffering From Self-induced Misery
Part One of Four
Many times, when a wave of adversity comes upon us, we rationalize that it must be either God testing us, or the devil tempting us. While either one of these possibilities could be what’s behind the adversity, a 2Cor. 13: 5 self-examination might identify something different.
By applying human rationalization, we fail to at least  consider the possibility, that we are suffering from self-induced misery, being the end result of a negative decision(s) that we have made, and that the time has come for us to “pay the piper.”
Human nature likes to take the fastest and easiest route out of any difficulty. It is much more comfortable to just blame other people or other things (1) for the troubles that come our way, rather than it is to conduct a 2Cor. 13: 5 self-examination, and acknowledge our own culpability. 
Gal. 6: 7 tells us that we WILL (not might) reap the crop from the seeds we have sown. In modern-day terminology, we might say, what goes around comes around, emphasizing the blessings or consequences for  the way we interact with or treat other people (2).
Human viewpoint says we will treat others as they have treated us. Divine viewpoint says we are to treat others the way we WANT others to treat us.  You cannot mistreat another human being without committing sin against God, as well.
Obedience to divine viewpoint (3) in all matters is how one expresses his or her love for God.  
To the extent that we are willing to sacrifice our own agenda, in order to please the people we love, is an indication of the level of love that  we have for them.  
Keep in mind that having a love for one-self, other people, or other things, that is greater than the love that we ought to have for God, disqualifies us from being His disciple (4).
This principle of reaping what we have sown, or that what goes around will come around, applies to both the good and the evil seeds we have sown, by what we have thought, said, or done.
The older we get, the more we should see the reality of Gal. 6: 7, and realize that no one, including the one we see in the mirror, gets away with anything.  
Sins committed decades ago can still haunt us, stirring up a guilty conscience, or the fear of being exposed, when someone or something brings to our conscious minds, a memory of things we had gotten involved in, and rather than having addressed it, we buried it, deep into our sub consciousness.
Because we  did not get caught in the act, were not punished, or suffered any of the possible consequences in a way we thought we would, could, or should, we assume that the matter was closed, unaware that the case has still not cleared the docket of the Court of Heaven.
Granted, divine forgiveness spoken of in 1John 1: 9 is immediate, complete, and unconditional, aside from the need to make a confession, acknowledging our sin.  
Keep in mind that the epistle of 1John was written to born-again believers.  ALL born-again believers, then and now, have already received the irrevocable gift of eternal life. 
As far as salvation (going to Heaven) is concerned, all born-again believers have received forgiveness of all past, present, and future sin. 
This forgiveness, and its accompanying eternal security, is based on the born-again believer having made a one-time decision to believe in the atoning  1John 2: 2 work of the Lord Jesus Christ that He finished (5) on the cross, and the irreversible Eph. 4: 30 sealing, and Titus 3: 5 regenerating Work of God the Holy Spirit, that took place the moment one first believed.
At that moment, one became a positionally sanctified child of God.  Upon departing this world, he or she will enter Heaven, in that same capacity.
However, here on Earth, the positionally sanctified, born-again believer will go through periods of time being out of intimate fellowship with God. 
Each period out of fellowship  begins the moment one sins, and continues on until a 1John 1: 9 confession is made.  These periods can be as brief as the time it takes to confess the sin, or for as long as the rest of one’s post salvation spiritual life, here on Earth.
For most of us, there will be an ongoing, daily need, for the confessional of God that is open 24/7, if we are to walk in fellowship with Him. For many of us, we haven’t even gotten out of bed in the morning, and are already out of fellowship with God, due to some mental attitude sin or lifestyle sin that we have carried over from yesterday.
As we spiritually mature, the percentage of daily time we spend in fellowship with God will increase. We will become more consciously aware of His presence, 24-7. 
One might be surprised by the changes we wil automatically make in much of what we think, say, and do, as a result of developing a constant awareness of His presence, no matter where we go or what we are otherwise doing.
While  such awareness will bring the joy of the Lord to those who are in fellowship with Him, this same awareness can generate feelings of uneasiness, knowing something is not right, and therefore, needs to be addressed.
This is where the “need” to keep busy, or to the need to be in constant fellowship with people comes from.  There is nothing wrong with being active and having fellowship  with people, but not when such things take the place of fellowship with God.  
Solomon, who did it all, and had it all, called the pursuit of the things of this world a futile search for happiness, and a meaningless life, if God and the things of God are neglected in the process (6).
Being over-active with the things that this world has to offer, and being in constant fellowship with people, provides a relieving distraction from self-induced misery, and or the need to face what needs to be done to be fellowship with God.
“You say I am rich (enough), and have become wealthy  (enough), and have no need for ANYTHING (to make me happy), and (yet) you do not know that you are (spiritually) wretched, MISERABLE, poor, blind, and naked, (Rev. 3: 17 NASB2020 parentheses mine.)”
The advancing disciple has learned to prioritize God and the things of God, in order to best enjoy the good things that life here on Earth has to offer.
This principle of fellowship underscores the damage one does to his or her walk with God, if one chooses to make a practice or lifestyle out of any (7) activity that His Word labels as sin. 
One cannot embrace sin and be in fellowship with God at the same time. Being out of fellowship with God and experiencing self-induced misery go hand in hand.
I believe that one of the main reasons there are so many “Christians” living in self-induced misery is because of the sin of refusing to forgive others, as (like) God has forgiven them, even though they pray for this every time they recite the Lord’s Prayer (The Our Father).
Confessing, but not then forsaking the sin in the future (8), will result in the born-again believer spending much of his or her post salvation spiritual life going around and around, in a revolving doorway, going in and out of fellowship with God, and not moving forward in the plan of God.
Time spent out of fellowship with God does NOT diminish the integrity of the  salvation that a born-again believer has already received, but will open the door to Heb. 12: 6  divine discipline here on Earth, and will suffer in Heaven, the loss of the 1Cor. 3: 14 reward and Rev. 2/Rev. 3 privileges that are reserved for advancing disciples.
The purpose of the ongoing 1John 1: 9 confessions is for the restoration of the intimate fellowship with God that is lost by committing post (after) salvation sin, and then to keep moving forward in the life of post (after) salvation discipleship.
End of Part One
(1) Gen. 3: 12, 13 (2) Matt. 7: 12 (3) John 14: 15  (4) Luke 14: 26 (5) John 19: 30 (6) Book of Ecclesiastes (7)  James 2: 10 (8) John 8: 11