Paradox?

Oftentimes, in our Christian lives, we speak of the numerous paradoxes we find in the Bible, and rightly so. There is the apparent conflict between God's sovereignty and man's freedom to choose; there is the admonition that the last shall be first, he who loses his life will find it, etc. It only occurred to me today, however, that these, and all others like them, are paradoxes only insomuch as they have happened after the Fall.

Think about it. If things were as God had originally intended them, would any of these things puzzle us as they do? It is the most natural thing for a fully holy and righteous person to put others before himself, and the like. As Adam walked in the cool of the day, I doubt that he grappled with his freedom of choice and God's sovereignty. Anything less would have simply been unnatural. How far we have fallen! The grace that needs reform us is indeed magnanimous, and should garner our uninhibited praise!