The Inner Peace
Most people feel frustrated. One may feel that he is making no progress, but the very fact that he remains where he is, while doing his utmost, is in...
Most people feel frustrated. One may feel that he is making no progress, but the very fact that he remains where he is, while doing his utmost, is in itself tremendous progress!
“Know that beneath your ordeal, your Father is concealed and if you stand firm, you will find him!”
The Chassidim recount the tale of a queen who was suspected by her husband of infidelity. Once, as she was walking in her garden, she was seized by soldiers and carried off to a ship’s galley. The captain, a fearsome pirate, chained her up in a cell, and from behind the bars he came to speak to her daily, seeking the win her over to bad conduct.
Her torment was intolerable, but she resisted bravely. Finally, the pirate unmasked himself: it was her husband, the King.
In short, she had suffered so greatly only because she did not know who was doing this to her. Now she had proved her loyalty and acquired her husband’s absolute trust. (Toldoth Yaakov Yosef).
God is just; He is good; He loves us. He wants us to love Him and be faithful to Him. If we prove our attachment to Him, He will reward us with what we have merited and what we will enjoy openly alongside the Righteous in eternal happiness.
The Sages have long known the answer to the mystery of life. With their answer, everything would seem clear to us. We would understand that beneath all the misfortunes and woes, beneath the façade of bitterness, an infinite goodness and a perfect justice are concealed. However, if we knew this answer, what love would we have proven? If we served God only when the going is good, when He enlightens our way and blesses us, what would be the significance of our lives? We would resemble the angels who, steeped in conviction, are committed ceaselessly to praising their Maker. Man can and must outdo the angels. This why his task is more difficult; this is why God hides the answer from him.
In the meantime, our spiritual guides show us the way, repeating to us in each generation: “Know that beneath your ordeal, your Father is concealed and if you stand firm, you will find Him!”
Then from out of the dark years our voice will rise up: “God save me! I know that You are here, but I can’t see You and the road is so gloomy…”
Nothing is more esteemed in His eyes; nothing is more cherished than the humble voice rising out of the abyss. Piercing though all the Heavens, it arrives at the very Throne of Glory. It resounds above and far outshines the symphony of the angels.
As soon as such a person lifts up his voice in prayer, God leaves aside all His worlds, His servants and His affairs, and bends towards this man to listen to him. He will surely answer him.
* * *
Evil is our enemy in every respect. It wants our moral ruin and above all, our misfortune, because it knows that when in disaster, we will be furthest from God.
Misery and suffering are derived merely from the misunderstanding of events. When we believe in God, we understand that everything that happens to us is for our good and then we suffer much less from it.
* * *
Nothing is demanded of us that is beyond our power. When an ordeal is sent to us, it is granted that we can rise above it.
Why do so few succeed? Why does almost everyone stoop somewhere on the way? Because they do not know their own strength! They underestimate their potential; they do not trust in the Masters who teach that no difficulty is sent to us that is beyond our powers.
If only we knew what the least of our efforts contributes to mankind, if we only saw the extraordinary light that we create by our noble words and courageous actions, we would be so filled with wonder that evil would flee from us!
God, however, has caused these lights to be partially hidden from us in order to allow us a choice, free will being man’s reason for existing.
* * *
Certainly evil could be uprooted from a man’s mind, but when the mind is so troubled, the good and the evil are so intermingled that with the removal of the negative, the good would be uprooted at the same time!
Violence is not the right solution, nor great haste, but patience and perseverance which will lead us further and more surely.
* * *
When Rabbi Akiva began learning the Talmud at the age of forty, he threw himself into it wholeheartedly, and in a short time, he reached a very high level. However, he did not express himself for fifteen years; he did not reveal what he knew… in time, he proved to be the greatest master of his generation. This greatness lay in the fact that he knew how to wait.
“Wait!” the Almighty replies, when you persist in requesting entry to His Palace. You wish to reach spiritual heights, symbolized by amber you are an important postulant. Wait! A goodly share is already reserved for you. You will have a glimpse of it in this world and the main part in the world to come, provided that you know how to wait: this is the condition; this is the lesson.
In the same way the Talmud teaches “He who wishes to purify [himself or others] will be helped from Heaven; he will be told ‘wait’. Those who wish to purchase crude oil [an unrefined product] are told to serve themselves immediately. He who wishes to buy amber [a very refined perfume] is told to wait. Wait, so that you and I shall enjoy the fragrance of the amber together!” (Yoma).
To help a person, Heaven will give him guidelines to show him how to be patient — how to hold on and never regress, no matter what happens to him in the meantime. This is the true meaning of ‘he is told to wait’ he is taught how to be persevering. When he hears his voice, he will be so heartened that nothing from now on, will ever move him from his place.
In periods of stagnation, most people feel frustrated. One may feel that he is making no progress, but the very fact that he remains where he is, while doing his utmost, is in itself tremendous progress!
The very fact of his remaining where he can be compared to the seed buried the frozen earth, which throughout the winter stains and struggles; nobody sees its progress, it is thought to be lost. Then suddenly, it is spring, and the seed shoots up from the ground, radiant with promise.
The person who has decided to anticipate the spring, may have to wait through a long, silent procession of winter nights, but if he can take courage, he will see stars sparkling in the silence – the stars of marvelous ideas: “God is close by, He loves me. He watches over me and causes me to think such as: how to struggle, how to wait, how to be calm how to strengthen myself just when I was about to give up…”
There was once a very rich man, a prosperous merchant who had a store full of fine merchandise.
One night thieves came and plundered his fortune. The man was almost ruined. Not discouraged, he drew on what remained, purchased fresh goods and rebuilt his business.
Again thieves returned and plundered him, and this time, they also took his money. Again, he put together the little that he still had, sold his wife’s jewelry, and managed to rebuild a small business, enough to assure his family’s livelihood.
However, he was again robbed, and this time he was left with only the empty walls of his home. He borrowed a small sum of money, purchased a few objects and began to peddle from village to village, like those destitute people who roam the streets with pouches of needles, pipes and so forth. He hawked his wares from one village to the next, in order to feed his family, trading his goods with the peasants for chickens or eggs.
Once, when he was coming back from the villages with his meager pack of goods and a little food, he came upon a bandit on horseback, loaded with two enormous sacks. Seeing that the bandit was going to rob him, the man began to cry and beg, but to no avail. The bandit took all the poor man’s possessions. This time, he was completely ruined. He walked on, weeping bitterly. It was not enough that he had lost all his riches, now he had lost even the little that had been left to him…
Suddenly, he looked up and he saw that the bandit had fallen from his horse; before this brigand could pick himself up, the horse trampled his head. The man whom he had robbed approached and to his surprise, found his aggressor dead. When he opened the bags to take back his possessions, he found all his belongings, his entire fortune, all that had been stolen from him from the beginning to the end. Joyfully, he returned home. He was again rich.
* * *
Despite the apparent simplicity of this tale, what Rebbe Nachman wishes to teach us here is extremely profound, comments Reb Nosson. We can glean some very valuable hints. When we see everything that happens to a person in his life: he is robbed, and the little that he manages to save is snatched again, over and over: do not lose heart! Retain your trust in God’s goodness; keep your eyes raised to Heaven and a prayer on your lips. God will always listen to you, and your aggressor will be smitten down and will not rise up again. You will recover all that belongs to you; all your fortune and your eternal wealth will be restored to you.
(Used with permission from COURAGE by Israel Isaac Besancon. Published by Shir Chadash Publishers).
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