[First posted February 2, 2014; reposted February 15 and June 27, 2015—Admin1]
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This topic has been written about and rehashed millions of times, but it is surely a relevant discussion point no matter how often, or how much it has been written about.
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Each day we face challenges and difficulties, big and small, and it is good to be reminded that GOD is INDEED near us, that He IS a personal GOD, even if there are moments that we ask ourselves, “Where is GOD in all these?”
We all go through pain, suffering, difficulties, grief, in the cycles of our lives. During these times, we often ask ourselves “WHY GOD?” Yet, during moments when we are feeling at peace with everyone and everything in the world, when we are in comfort and pleasure, we do not question and just enjoy them. We sometimes even forget to be truly grateful to the Source of these good tidings. But GOD, from whom ALL BLESSINGS flow, is there in good times and in bad.
It is easy to see Him in our lives when we are rolling in the good times. However, when we are at the lowest points in our lives, when there seems to be no hope and light, when everything seems to go wrong, and our pleas and prayers seem to be going nowhere, it is then that we question if GOD is indeed with us.
I read an article in aish.com entitled “ Questioning GOD” written by Riva Pomerantz which had this catching by-line:
I don’t want to live in the question anymore.
I want to live in the answer.
Don’t we often go through that? We want so hard to hear from GOD, to have our prayers answered, to see His hand in the midst of our difficulties. Yet so often, in our daily lives, His ways are hidden and that is when we cry out in anguish, “Why GOD?” There are so many philosophical, theological, even practical answers to this oft-repeated question as we are going through times of difficulty and adversity, when justice fails, when yatzer hara [the evil inclination] seems to flourish and abound.
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I know I may not have the right answers, nor can I say I know the right answers. All I know is that even in the most difficult of times, even when it is the hardest to do, I just continue to trust, to pray, to believe that GOD is in ALL the details of my life. He is a personal GOD to me, He may sometimes be silent, and times when He does intercede and answers my prayers in amazing and unexpected ways. I also know that I can only learn to be in His perfect will for me and my life as I study, read and learn from His Torah.
In his video “Getting Personal with GOD”, Rabbi Yaakov Salomon says that he heard someone say that she never plans for anything because ultimately, it is all up to GOD. Rabbi Salomon answers it this way:
“When we pray to GOD we should pray as if EVERYTHING depended on Him; but when we LIVE we must live as if it all depends on us.”
We have to live our lives creating a balance between leaving everything to God, and doing things simply on our own; we should understand that even if our lives, and its details, are in God’s hand, we still have to DO everything possible for ourselves.
DVE@S6K
