If you insist

“But My people would not listen to Me; Israel would not submit to Me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.” Psalm 81:11-12
It’s a dangerous thing to be stubborn when what God is telling us to do is contrary to what we are telling Him we want to do. God is patient with us, yes, but eventually there will come a point where He will allow us to receive that thing we are stubbornly striving for, and face the consequences to our detriment. God respects our free will. If we refuse to listen to Him, He will leave us to our own devices.
The answer to avoiding a lot of pain in life is simple: be obedient to God. He has given us much more than the Old Testament saints in terms of the ways that He guides us. We have the complete Word of God, that gives both general and specific instructions on how we should conduct ourselves. And we also have the Holy Spirit indwelling us – something that the Old Testament saints did not have on a permanent basis. He will guide us through His peace.
Elsewhere we read in the Psalms, “Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you” (Ps. 32:9). We have a choice how we are led: by pain, through pursuing our stubbornness, or by the Spirit, through obedience to God.