The Struggle Is the Opportunity

The Or HaChayim HaKadosh, discussing the sin of Adam HaRishon, explains why Hashem made his test with the nachash so difficult. He asks, why did Hashem create such a difficult evil to entice Adam and Chava to sin? The Or HaChayim explains that the reward a person receives in the Next World depends on how difficult his tests are in this world. Therefore, the stronger the temptation and the more difficult the nisayon is to overcome, the greater the reward the person will be able to earn. The Or HaChayim then brings from the Zohar HaKadosh a mashal about the son of a king. The king commanded his son not to do a certain aveirah, and then he told the person involved to try to entice his son to do that same aveirah. Why would the king make it more difficult for his son to listen to him? The Zohar explains that because the king loved his son so much, he wanted to give him the opportunity to overcome a difficult test so he could reward him greatly. This is the tremendous chesed that Hashem does for those He loves. He prepares for us challenges through which we can reach the highest levels of Olam HaBa. This gives us a completely different perspective when we find ourselves struggling in life. We might ask sometimes, "Why me? Why is Hashem making it so difficult for me?" We naturally think that if Hashem loves us, He should make things easier. But the Or HaChayim and the Zohar are teaching us exactly the opposite. Hashem loves us so much and wants to give us the greatest Olam HaBa. If everything was easy, we wouldn't be able to earn nearly as much. When Hashem gives a person a difficult nisayon, He is giving him an opportunity to earn something that will last forever. Furthermore, Hashem is showing the person that He believes in him. As we know, Hashem doesn't give people tests that they're not capable of passing. So when something seems very difficult, instead of thinking, "Why is Hashem doing this to me?" we could think, "Hashem knows what I'm capable of. He's giving me a tremendous compliment right now." A man told me that on Simchat Torah he accepted upon himself that he was going to start getting up early every morning to go learn before Shacharit. The very first morning after Simchat Torah, at 5:45 a.m., he was backing out of his driveway when suddenly a person riding a bicycle rammed into his car. That man then accused him of hitting him and demanded a large amount of money. The whole thing appeared to be some type of hoax, and because of everything that happened, the man ended up missing his learning that morning. He couldn't understand it. He thought, "Here I accepted upon myself to get up early and learn. I thought Hashem wants me to go learn, and the very first morning it looks like He's stopping me from going." But the truth is exactly the opposite of what he's thinking. Hashem loved his commitment so much. He's not pushing him away. He's being given an opportunity to earn so much more for the very same commitment. It's one thing to get up early and go learn when things go smoothly, but it's something completely different when the very first morning a major obstacle comes up and the person nonetheless says, "I'm not going to give up. Tomorrow morning I'm going again." Now, when he continues despite the difficulty, the reward is infinitely greater. Sometimes we think the obstacle is a sign that Hashem doesn't want us to do what we're trying to do. But we know Hashem loves when we do His avodah, and it's exactly the opposite. He's giving us the opportunity to make the avodah much more valuable. Our Rabbis are teaching us here the proper way to look at a struggle. Hashem loves us. He wants to give us more. He knows what we're capable of, and He's giving us the opportunity to earn eternal rewards that only come about through difficulties. The next time we want to ask, "Why me? Why does this have to be so hard?" We should remember what our Rabbis are teaching us. The struggle is not a sign that we're being pushed away. It's a great opportunity Hashem is giving us. He loves us with an infinite love and wants us to be happy for all eternity, and He is giving us the opportunity now to earn that eternal happiness.