Prayer Fundamentals - Part 5
G-d’s Love and Kindness
I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His name, created the world in order to bestow of His goodness upon His creations, in particular ― Man (Eitz Chaim).
In order to truly rely on G-d for help, one must not only believe in Divine providence, but also that G-d cares and is always there to help.
One may ask, “Why does G-d lower Himself to deal with our trivial requests?” The answer is that since G-d genuinely cares for each of us in a perfect way, He wants to be involved in the details of our lives.
A story:
There was once a king with twin sons. One was very wicked. He was a constant embarrassment and burden to his father. The other was extremely righteous, a source of constant pleasure and praise. When they turned twenty the king decided to send them away, explaining that they needed to experience life on their own in order to become independent. To the bad son he gave a thousand gold coins for his journey. However, to the good son he gave only ten gold coins.
Surprised at how little money he was given for his trip, the good son asked, “Father, what will I do when the money runs out?”
The king answered, “My dear son, if you are close to the palace, come back and I will give you what you need. If you are too far to return, then send me a letter, and I will send you more money. And please include in the letter details of how your trip is going.”
By giving an abundance of wealth to his wicked son, the king was in reality severing his ties with him, making sure that he would not return for some time, while, by giving so little to the son which he cared for very much, he was in fact insuring that he would remain connected and involved in his life even if he would be far away.
This story gives us a deeper understanding of why G-d commanded us to pray to Him each day. Through prayer we always remain connected to G-d. Even if we feel distant, when we stand in prayer He is there to answer. When we are in need of help G-d wants us to share our troubles with Him. When we feel unable to go on, He wants us to call out from the depths of our hearts. The walk of life is, in reality, a walk with G-d. We share it all with Him, and He, in His infinite love and kindness, provides us with the good that He desires to bestow on each and every one of us.
