A Foot in the Door

 

In Forest Fields, Part 48

 

A person of faith can always express gratitude for everything. He believes that all is for his good, bringing him closer to his ultimate goal. If a person recognizes in himself an inability to express gratitude for everything, he should realize that this is only because his ultimate goal is not coming closer to Hashem. His goals are rather related to material and mundane success.

 

If one is unhappy, he’ll have no desire to seek Hashem. He won’t be concerned with his ultimate goal in the world. Rather, all that’ll ever matter to him is his comfort zone.

 

On the other hand, if someone truly wants to accomplish his ultimate goal, he’ll realize that he should express abundant gratitude about everything. He can easily be grateful for the fact that he never got married because he knows that this is the best thing possible for him. Hashem grants each person precisely what he needs to accomplish his mission on earth.

 

Hashem cares that you have exactly what you need to attain your soul correction!

 

Does a person really know what is best for him? If he had a million dollars, would that be good for him? Not necessarily; in fact, such a sum might be detrimental.

 

The first thing to do when coping with any problem, even before trying to figure out a solution, is to build emuna, to be grateful for the very problem that he wants to cry about. The evil inclination says that the current challenge will destroy you when in fact it’s the best thing in the universe for you. Remembering this one point destroys the evil inclination, who like a pest buzzing in your ear tries to convince you there’s no hope. “Things aren't going right for you,” he says.

 

The man of faith responds, “So what if things aren't going right for me? Excellent! It's great that things aren't going right for me! That’s what Hashem wants, that things shouldn’t go right for me!” He then turns to Hashem and says, “Thank You very much, Hashem, that things aren't going right for me! I know that You do everything for my ultimate benefit. Thank You, Hashem!”

 

The evil inclination tries again and again to get his foot in the door. After a setback, he makes every effort to drag a person way down into a pit of depression and melancholy.

 

Instead of debating with the evil inclination, one should turn to Hashem again and say, "Thank you very much, Hashem, that I failed! I must have faith that this failure is very good for me; it’s surely just what I need in order to come close to You!” Once we make a mistake and learn from it, we already become better people.

 

We’re lucky that we all have an evil inclination. Our Sages, of blessed memory, when commenting about hashem’s satisfaction in creating the world said, "Very good – this refers to the evil inclination." Do you possess a certain negative character trait? Very good! You need this undesirable trait in order to come closer to Hashem. Without an evil inclination, we wouldn’t be fighting to get close to Hashem all the time. In this respect, the evil inclination does us a tremendous service.

 

Emuna and acceptance of prayers

 

A person’s emuna determines whether his prayer are accepted or not. Emuna signifies that one must believe that everything is for the good, with no exceptions. Therefore, he must express gratitude for everything, each person according to his individual lot in life.

 

A person’s evil inclination amplifies his feeling of egocentrism and power of choice. This is dangerous, for a person is liable to become very arrogant when successful and terribly depressed when not. Self-persecution and the blame game are direct results from setbacks with no emuna to cushion the fall. People often confuse their self-persecution – which stems directly from their evil inclination – and identify it as is their good inclination. They attribute their self-hating thoughts to their piety and “fear of Heaven”.

 

This is not fear of Heaven at all. It’s stupidity, as Job was told (Job 4:6),"Your so-called fear of heaven is your folly."

 

One must cast his ego aside. Instead of thinking "I don't want this situation," he should say, "This is the way Hashem wants it." One should focus on Hashem rather than on himself, thinking, "Hashem wanted me to fail. Now I will ask Hashem to help me, so that in the future, I won’t fail."

 

One must take into account that it is possible that Hashem will not help him immediately, and that he will need more and more prayers. It is not at all certain that one's supplication is immediately accepted. Perhaps it will be accepted only after a great many prayers. If so, then this situation is also for the best, because everything is for the good, including the delay of his salvation in this matter.

 

Receiving a gift without prayer is detrimental to a person, as I learned from my teachers, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Bender, of blessed memory, and, may he live long, Rav Eliezer Berland Shlit"a. Whatever a person receives without prayer harms him, both in this world and in the next world. As such, Hashem puts a person in a position where he’ll need to pray. Thus when he receives what he has requested, the gift will truly be beneficial for him.

 

To be continued.