Keep Praying

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

For a 20% discount on Rabbi Ashear's new book on Parnassah click the link below and enter Promo Code - Emunah20 https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422640708.html Some people say they can't pick up a siddur to pray with. They feel betrayed. They had invested hundreds of tefillot, day and night, crying out to Hashem for help, but never got what they were asking for. They weren't asking for luxuries, and they knew it was so easy for Hashem to give it to them. They don't think that they are so bad that they shouldn't deserve what they were asking for. The only conclusion they have is that prayer doesn't really work, at least not for them, so why should they bother continuing with it. It is certainly not easy to deal with disappointment, but we must know this is one of our main jobs in this world. For someone like this to say, “I trust you, Hashem. I know You hear every word that I say, and I know You love my prayers,” and he continues to pray, it would elevate him so much. The prayers from a person who has so many reasons to turn away are so valuable. Every tefila is a mitzvah in its own right, and will earn a person eternal life, especially when it's so hard for him to do. Every tefila is heard, and every tefila counts. A businessman in Yerushalayim needed $300,000 to take his business to the next level, and went to the bank to apply for a loan. The bank dragged their feet and did not give him an answer for two months. During that time, he prayed so hard for heavenly help. He went to Meron to pray by the kever of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. He went to the Kotel numerous times. The day they finally called back, he was in the car, and immediately recognized the number of the bank manager lighting up on his phone. The first words he heard was, “I'm sorry, I hate to disappoint you, but we can't approve your loan.” To him, this loan was his entire future. His head started to ache, and he felt dizzy. He couldn't continue driving, so he pulled over to the side of the road. He thought of all the heartfelt tefilot that he had made. He said to himself, “ Ribono Shel Olam , what happened to all my prayers? Weren't they worth anything?” He was ready to give up on prayer altogether, but then he stopped himself, and he reminded himself of the basic principles of emunah. He said to himself, if Hashem decided not to give me this loan, that means it was the best possible outcome. He sat there for ten minutes, giving himself chizuk in emunah, and then he was ready to continue driving. As he was going to pull away, an elderly man knocked on his window, asking him for a ride. When the man got in the car, he asked if he could relate a short devar Torah . He then went on to give a mashal of how every tefila we make is heard by Hashem and connects us to Hashem. The man was floored. Exactly when he needed that chizuk , a man came into his car and asked him if he could relate that chiddush to him. That evening, he went back to the Kotel to pray, this time with deep-rooted emunah. He accepted Hashem's decision about the bank, and then he asked Hashem to give him the money in a different way. The very next morning, his accountant called and told him, he just found out that the government is giving financial backing to small businesses, but there are two conditions to get it. Number one, he had to have all the papers ready in two days. And number two, only someone with no outside financial backing qualified for the offer. Since he had just applied for the loan, he had all the papers ready, and because he was denied for that loan, he qualified for this much better offer. Nobody knows what we need better than Hashem. Sometimes all we need is just to keep praying more.