Why is god opposed to us using our free will? and why is this considered merciful?

alright so appearently i am not really getting the point of this whole "god giving people free will if he is just going to punish them for excercising it yet still somehow being merciful" thing. So i will ask this. IF god gave us this whole free will thing WHY is he opposed to us using it? and do not say because he wants to protect us.... if he had not created hell in the first place there would not be anything to protect us from. Do not say he created hell just for satan and his minions and we just HAPPEN TO FALL IN for NO appearent reason whatsoever except that we had a disagreement with god. If he were truly all powerful then he could have made a place for HUMANS that did not want to be with him.