Transcription
A person can ask a question one of two ways. For example, your life is falling apart, everything is going wrong. You can ask the question, "Why is this happening to me? What does God want from me?" which basically is a complaint. It's a kind of a pathetic question, "Woe is me." That's one way of asking the question.
The other way of asking the question is, "My life is falling apart. What's the meaning? What am I supposed to make of it?" That's a much more, uh, useful question and can bring productive results. "What does God want of us when things are difficult? When things are impossible?"
There's a famous story about a man who came to his rebbe and described the disasters that had befallen him. His factory broke down, his, uh, his life is basically a misery, and as a result, he can't pay his bills, he can't give the charity that he used to give. People who worked for him now don't have a living. It's a big mess. So the rebbe said to him, "You have described in great detail what you need from God, but what is needed from you, of you, you haven't mentioned at all." And the man changed his life. He became a different person.
When we feel that we have many needs that are not being, uh, met, that are not being satisfied, what is God trying to tell us? That this is a partnership. You do what I need from you, and I do what you need from me. When you're doing what I need, then I do what you need. It's a, it's a partnership. So if you work for me, I have to provide for you. So instead of worrying about what you're getting or not getting, worry about what you are supposed to be doing, and then I'll take care of the rest.
Or in different words, what happens to us, we don't really have free choice. We can't decide whether our business is going to fall apart or not, whether there's going to be an economic downturn. We can't control that. That's not our obligation. It's not where we have freedom of choice. So we can worry about things in which we don't have control or freedom of choice, or we can attend to those things in which we do have freedom of choice, where we can make a difference.
So when we find ourselves needy, it is a reminder that God's need, in which we have freedom of choice, in which we can do something, should get more attention than our own needs. Which basically means this, anything that happens in our lives can either weaken us or ennoble us. It can go either way. So I either, I can sit there saying, "What do you want from me? I don't like this. I can't take this." Or you can say, "If there's a challenge in this, if there's something I can do, then I will rise to the occasion and I'll do it." So it can either ennoble me or destroy me.
The same is true when something happens that is very embarrassing. You can either be humiliated or you can be humbled. Humiliated, not so nice. Humble, nicer, more useful, more noble.
And then people want to know, how does God communicate with us? How will God tell me what it is I'm supposed to be doing, or what it is he's up to? There are two ways. The primary way in which God communicates is direct and in writing. God wrote the Ten Commandments. God gave us the Torah in writing. He explained, he taught, he, um, he educated us in what he wants, in what has to happen, in what the plan is all about. A world of goodness, a world of morality, a world of godliness. That's the plan. And with great detail and with great explanation. And then we have the sages who explained it all and elaborated on it and made it all very clear.
Then there's another way that God communicates, and that is through suggestion. When you find yourself in a certain place, God is trying to tell you something. You find yourself in a certain circumstance, God is trying to tell you. God puts you on the path in which you need to be. He gives you the tools that are necessary for your particular job. So if you find yourself talented or capable or blessed in a certain area, take a hint. That's where God needs you. If you find yourself in a certain place, whether you chose to be there or not, take a hint. God is trying to tell you something. He needs you here. He needs you this way. He needs you to do it with what he gives you.
So if God gives you money more than you need, then you use that to serve him. God gives you wisdom more than you need, then be a teacher. God gives you time more than you need, well then devote some of that time to him. So we take a hint from Divine Providence, and we take lesson and wisdom from God's Torah.
Now, the things that God tells us in the Torah, we don't have too much, um, leeway. When it comes to a hint, a little more of a, a little more of a leeway. God gave you money, uh, you're not so big on charity, but you're being a good teacher. God can work with you that way too. So there's, um, there's a benefit, there's a virtue to discovering what God wants from what he says, rather than looking for hints. Uh, sometimes looking for hints can get a little crazy, a little superstitious, a little too hung up on details.
So the best way, the preferred way, although it's not the only way, the preferred way to to know what it is God wants, simply listen to what he says. He speaks clearly. He speaks loudly. You just have to listen. And that is in the Torah, in the written Torah, and through the sages who were empowered to explain it and to, uh, lay it all out for us so that there is no doubt. It's a clear path.
And so in the olden days, before the Torah was all developed and and explained, God would have to come to people and say, "Go here, come with me, I'll take you, do this, don't do that." But now that he has said it all, now that he has written it all, now that it's all available and we know exactly what he wants, now he trusts us to just go ahead and do it.
If you enjoyed this conversation or this topic, and you're looking for more information, or you want to hear it again from another angle, there is a way to do that, and that is in this book. It's all there. Order it from Amazon. You can read it, reread it, and share it. When life is, yeah, and he can't. We're gonna, we're taking a video of Manis. Yeah. And then they're going to put it on the computer so people can watch it. Let's see what this looks like. Don't know what to fix. We're making a video now. We're work, we're creating the video. Yeah. Yes. So Manis is sitting and he's, he's talking for the camera. So we're the audience. We get to ask questions. If you have a question.