Do You Want to Kick God Out?

Hashem gave me a little smile tonight. 

I was out somewhere that was very busy, and I was nervous I might have to wait awhile. I had a hunch to stay in a particular place, and fortuitously, right then a woman in front of me left her place, and I ended  up waiting maybe one or two minutes! 

As I was on my way home, I reflected on the Divine Providence and thanked Hashem for helping me to get in and out of there quickly. Then, that inner doubting voice said: “I mean really, God did that? Come on.”  

So, I took a minute to think to myself. Well, if God didn’t do it, then that would mean that it was coincidence. Happenstance. Well, it happens to be that the Gematria, or numerical value in Hebrew, of the words “mikreh” (coincidence) and “Amalek” (the arch enemy of Hashem) are the same. Coincidence? Our Sages say it isn’t – because the root of wondering if God is really involved in the details of our lives is the advice of Amalek. 

Well, maybe God isn’t involved in all these small day-to-day occurrences? 

The problem with that thinking – and there are many people who make this mistake – is  that it assumes limitation. A human being can only deal with so many small details before he will either ignore the details or start delegating to someone else who will be able to manage them. But God has no limits, no maximum computing power, no limited time or energy to manage. He can manage everything – the gazillions of insects, bacterium and animals, every blade of grass and when and where every leaf falls, and also manage the biggest decisions of world leaders. 

Ultimately, I came back to the famous saying (one of my favorites, I might add) from the Rebbe of Kotsk – “God is only wherever you let Him in.”  

If you decide that God is in charge of every detail of your life – then He will be. And if you decide that He isn’t, that He only bothers with the large decisions and issues in your life – then essentially you yourself are limiting Hashem to that role.  

Rabbi Shalom Arush writes in The Garden of Emuna something even more terrifying. God gives each of us the free will to decide how much emuna we will have in Him. If we choose to believe that He manages our life down to the tiniest detail, 100%,  then He will indeed manage our life 100% and we will have perfect, full, and complete Divine Providence. Hashem is only good, which means only good will happen to us. We might not understand how it’s for the best, but if it isn’t for our very best, then it will not happen! We are protected from evil. 

But Rabbi Arush warns us: If we choose to not believe in Him to that extent, then He gives us Divine Providence only to the extent that we choose to believe in Him. And that exposes us to true evil, which might not be for our ultimate good! 

Judaism teaches that there is no void. If there is Hashem, then there is all the good and blessings that come with Hashem. But if Hashem is not there, it’s not just you and your will! Instead, there is also impurity, and yes, even evil. 

I thought to myself: “Is that really what you want? Do you want to kick Hashem out of all of the many details in your life? Do you really want Him to only be involved in the “big” stuff? Let’s see how long it would have taken you to get out of there if you were on your own in that mayhem…” 

Of course, no one wants Hashem to not help them in their lives in whatever way, big or small. Who would willingly kick Hashem out and leave themselves to chance and to the real possibility of evil being done to them on any scale? 

Hence, the key is focusing ourselves to invite Hashem into absolutely everything, even the smallest detail. Ask for everything, and pray for everything. There is a famous story where Rebbe Nachman zt”l admonished Rebbe Natan for failing to pray and ask Hashem to replace his broken button. No item, no issue, no problem or aspect of life is too small for Hashem! 

The reality is that the real limitation is we ourselves. One time, I tried thanking Hashem and praying for absolutely everything down to the tiniest detail, for a few minutes. It was totally exhausting! I got  overwhelmed realizing just how many small details there are in my life. But I will say that the closeness to Hashem that I felt was something really special, a feeling that stuck with me for a long time. Unfortunately, I haven’t managed to muster up the strength to do it again, which is a real shame. 

The important thing to know is Rabbi Arush’s rule – thank Hashem for the past, and request for the future. The more we do it, the more we remember, the “smaller” the thing that we bring Hashem into – the more Divine Providence we will see, and the more smiles He will give us. 

I discuss the secret of how and why this works in my next article The Secret of How Trusting Hashem Works.

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Rachel Avrahami grew up in Los Angeles, CA, USA in a far-off valley where she was one of only a handful of Jews in a public high school of thousands. She found Hashem in the urban jungle of the university. Rachel was privileged to read one of the first copies of The Garden of Emuna in English, and the rest, as they say, is history. She made Aliyah and immediately began working at Breslev Israel.   
   

Rachel is now the Editor of Breslev Israel’s English website. She welcomes questions, comments, articles, and personal stories to her email: rachel.avrahami@breslev.co.il.