BS’D
Today’s daily dose of emuna is dedicated to the refuah shleimah of Aharon ben Perel. May Hashem grant him a complete healing among all of Klal Yisrael who are sick and suffering b’karov, b’rachamim, Amen!
They say “man plans and G-d laughs”. When our plans are side-tracked with unforeseen circumstances, we may be drawn to ask ‘why?’ Why me? Why now?
Our relationship to Hashem is often dependent on His ability to fulfil our needs and desires. As human beings, we naturally desire pleasure and comfort. When we are showered with (what we define as) good, we generally do not question Hashem’s ways. If life‘s events do not clash with our perception of good or comfortable, then we are not provoked to question His Divine plan. We merely take things for granted and expect them to flow as we believe they should. However, if our needs and comforts are not met, we may begin to question His ways. This mistaken outlook is a product of our own limited egos, a lack of knowledge of the full picture, and a lack of emuna that everything that happens is for our best.
Our imagination falsely directs our lives and defines happiness based on worldly pleasure. Yet, we cannot serve Hashem on condition and such a mistaken outlook cannot be revamped or adjusted. Rather, we must strive to completely remove such an erroneous belief. Our relationship with Hashem should mirror an ideal marriage, which is love and affection with no expectations or conditions attached. We cannot allow resentment to creep in the moment our expectations are not met. If this is the case, it would be wise to examine our relationships, particularly that with our Creator so that we may derive more unconditional love and satisfaction independent of whether our own conditions and expectations are met. Just as our Creator is infinite, so too should our love for Him be infinite.
Our definition of good is limited by the finite nature of this world and by our limited perspective. In actual fact, the greatest good that Hashem can bestow upon us is the gift of life in the World to Come – eternal life and eternal closeness to Hashem. In this world we have no concept of the true definition of ‘good’. Hashem provides for our needs in this world in order to enable us to earn that which is eternally good. The true purpose of this world is to build our eternity in the Next World. When we internalize this belief, then our definition of ‘good’ is turned on its head as we realize that when we follow His precepts, everything that happens really is good.
