Narrow Roads, Suffering, and the Most Difficult Thing

Why are there so many people who say they want to find God and know God, and yet so few actually do?
There's a big discrepancy there. If we could see the road to God like the yellow brick road on The Wizard of Oz, it probably wouldn't be as wide or as colorful. I have a hunch that there would be more footprints branching away from the road then continuing on it, and that there are more people that fall and stay down than there are that keep going.
That's because the road to God is difficult. It's narrow, and hazardous. A lot of people don't realize that when they set out. It doesn't seem right that God would make himself difficult to find. But He does. And you know why? It's because the people who do find Him are dedicated, determined, sold out for Him. It's His way of sifting out the real followers, the ones who will actually go the distance for Him.
Why else would suffering, trials, and tribulations be so valuable and worthwhile? How often it is that God seems to be found in the most difficult thing. The hard decision that you have to make. The hard times that you're going through. The hard thing you have to do.
If you pray, "God, I want to know you," you might as well pray, "God, please make my life difficult." And then why do we complain? It's the best way to acquire character and the only way to learn dependence and trust on Him.
The best things are found at the end of difficult paths. The next time you have a decision to make and you're not sure which to choose, try the more difficult option. God's probably behind it.