“I Am Hashem”

When a soul completes its 120 years on the physical earth and leaves the body, Hashem reveals Himself to the soul. At this awesome moment, Hashem says, “I am Hashem”.  What is Hashem telling the soul?
 
“Know that everything that has happened to you in your life is all because ‘I am Hashem’.  All of the hardships that you went through and anything that didn’t work out for you are all because ‘I am Hashem’.”
 
Still, what does it mean that all of this was because “I am Hashem”?  It means that everything that happened was only for your own good – whether Hashem was helping you or not helping you – and you ignored all of this.  Then the soul/person will understand everything.  He’ll understand that he lived a lie and was mistaken his whole life and “woe to such embarrassment”.
 
We see that the essential rebuke on the Day of Judgment will be for a lack of emuna and this will cause insufferable embarrassment.  The rest of the mistakes a person made in his life were all the result of not living the fact of Hashem’s existence: he didn’t know that everything is Hashem.  He didn’t see Hashem in his life. As a result, he is where he is with whatever sins he sinned.  Only then, will a person grasp how he lived a lie his whole life – one big mistake from beginning to end, because he didn’t live the fact of “I am Hashem”.
 
Our sages note that, Yosef’s brothers could not stand his rebuke when he revealed himself to them: “His brothers were not able to answer him because they were panic-stricken before him”.  How much more so when the Holy One, Blessed be He, comes to rebuke each person according to what he deserves, as it is written: ‘I will rebuke you and arrange it before your eyes’.”
 
Don’t wait for Judgment Day. From this moment on, whatever  you go through in life, remember “I am Hashem” — everything is from Hashem.  When dealing with any of life’s difficulties, there are only two options: the first option is to remember that it’s all “I am Hashem”. The second option is to be totally fooled by all of the confusion of this world, attributing power to nature, diseases, bacteria, viruses, and so forth; or to think that the problem was caused by evil eye, witchcraft, or some imaginary attack; or to blame and get angry at a friend, boss, or spouse; or to blame oneself and to fall into depression.  These are the illusions that hold a person back from coming close to Hashem or utilizing life’s challenges for repenting.  The moment a person recognizes  “I am Hashem!”, he has already ascended beyond the illusions and confusions of the material world. Then the picture becomes clearer and he begins to understand.
 
We understand from this the need for a daily cheshbon hanefesh – self-evaluation and judging oneself in light of everything that happened during the day.  Ask yourself, “Did I see Hashem in everything that transpired?”, “Did I say thank You for everything”, “Did I try to understand what Hashem was teaching me through each event and experience?”  By doing this, a person won’t be embarrassed on the Day of Judgment, because he will already know that in this world everything is only “I am Hashem” and he already asked forgiveness in this world for anything that he did wrong, trying to fix what needed fixing.
 
Emuna is not just knowing that everything is “I am Hashem”, but also knowing that everything is for the good.  Genuine emuna says that everything Hashem does is for the good and there is no bad in the world at all.  Therefore, the first thing with every situation is to know that it’s from Hashem and that it’s for the good and say thank You for it all.  Only then can a person try and understand the good in the situation and what Hashem wants to teach him. Just remember three words and you’ll always succeed: “I am Hashem.”