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Is Hashem good?

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daffys

Fri, Dec 10 2021, 2:13 pm

I'm going through a difficult time in my life and recently I found it very hard to connect to Hashem. In the past, when I had a hard time, I felt I could confide in Him and daven to Him and cry to Him. But lately, I started to think that "Hey, maybe He's not as good as he wants us to believe?" How can I trust Him if I don't believe He is good and wants to make me feel good? Isn't that belief a prerequisite for trusting someone?

BadTichelDay

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 12:22 pm

Shavua tov. Not sure if I'm the right person to answer this, but I'll bite. If my post doesn't find your favor, don't hold it against Hashem. It's just me being bad at expressing myself. Hiding

Yes, Hashem is good. He is the One who created, "invented", good and evil in the first place. And he created human beings who both give and receive good and evil. He has told us in the Torah to choose good and life. We are supposed to emulate Him, to become good like Him.
But the "good" that comes our way in our life isn't always easy to recognize as such. It is sometimes hidden or disguised, even to the point of looking bad to us.
There's an example from the parasha, when Ya'akov Avinu's sons returned from their debacle with the vice-roy of Egypt (not knowing yet that he was Yosef), Ya'akov said to them "why did you do this bad thing to me, that you told the man that you have another brother?" According to the Midrash this was the only inappropriate thing Ya'akov ever said, and Hashem, so to say, said, "here I am busy making his son vice-roy of Egypt and he calls it a bad thing!" Well, of course he did because he was missing a lot of important information at the time, but in the end it was all part of Hashem's plan and worked out for the best.
Another example from some frum website is the man who had a horrible car crash and came to the ER where they did him a head CT. On that, they by chance discovered the beginnings of a brain tumor which then could be operared. Without the accident, it probably would have been discovered only much later or even too late.
In my personal life, I had a horrible experience (which I don't want to elaborate here because it's not anon) and it galvanised me into moving to Israel, which turned out to be one of the best decisions I made in my life.
Good isn't always recognizable. It can look like its total opposite. Sometimes we realise later what it was good for, sometimes not, at least not in our lifetime, I suppose.
You wrote about making you feel good - that's also not always a given. Medicine can taste horrible or come in the form of a painful injection or have side effects, but if it heals you, it is still "good".

And evil also unfortunately exists. The yetzer ha-ra exists. Hashem doesn't usually send down a bolt of lightening to zap evildoers because doing so would deny free choice for them and for everyone who sees them.
Death is part of life and the fact that our days aren't endless, makes every single day we have and every moment we are with our loved ones more valuable and meaningful.

I don't always feel good or safe. Sometimes I'm so afraid that it freezes my bones. But deep down I trust Hashem and wait, until one day, in this life or after it has ended, I will understand why everything was the way it was. Whenever trouble comes my way, I would rather face it with Hashem at my side, so to say, than without Him or against Him, c"v. I assume it is all part of some great plan unfolding and in the end it will make sense.

curlyhead

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 2:29 pm

Yes Hashem is good even through challenges
Last year I lost a child.
Everyday I would say
Hashem loves me everything Hashem does is good.
It was very hard losing a child but I got some amazing opportunities after experiencing that.
What kept me going when my son was in ICU was the song I believe in Hashem. You can find it on YouTube.
I just read the book Living Emunah on Shabbos. It's such a powerful book that you should read. Also chavos Halevavos is amazing. The more you connect to Hashem you can see good even in the bad..

sequoia

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 5:22 pm

shabbatiscoming

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 5:38 pm

I think you would get a lot more answers in an anonymous enabled section.

IsraeliSoul

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 6:14 pm

sequoia wrote:

I must say, if you are a shomeret Torah while believing that Hashem is not good, you are incredible. Wouldn’t keep one shabbos if that’s what I would believe

shoshanim999

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 6:48 pm

IsraeliSoul wrote:

I must say, if you are a shomeret Torah while believing that Hashem is not good, you are incredible. Wouldn’t keep one shabbos if that’s what I would believe

Then you also must believe that sickness, death, poverty, mental illness, depression, abuse, older singles, and inability to have children are really all good but we don't understand how. That's an incredible leap of faith to accept that. I think that's incredible.

#BestBubby

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 6:50 pm

shoshanim999 wrote:

Yes, that is what one is required to accept.

People who survived the Holocaust still believed Hashem is good -

although there were also many Jews who rejected Hashem after the Holocaust.

#BestBubby

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 6:54 pm

Hashem Created the World from Nothing.

Can we do that???

Then why would you think it is possible for a Person go understand GOD's ways?

Can an ant understand algebra?

The difference between us and GOD is greater than the difference between an
ant and a Human.

Someone famous once said: I don't want to believe in a GOD I can understand.

#BestBubby

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 7:06 pm

OP, is there a Rav or Rebbitzen you can turn to for guidance?

Sorry for your pain.

Hope you have a Yeshuah soon.

miami85

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 7:38 pm

Me and my husband have had hard lives, I say someday we're going to write a book when we figure out where all of this is going.

We've experienced untold hardship and then we've seen glimpses of where this is going, and the more hard things happen and we start again. Somehow we've stayed strong, though there are times I tell Hashem "I'm hanging on by a thread"

The simple answer is "Hashem is Good, we don't always understand what Hashem is doing"

I posted this elsewhere, and while Dennis Prager isn't observant-religious anymore, he is still faithful to G-d and he had this recent episode which I believe to be hashkafically appropriate,

https://www.prageru.com/video/.....51155

It's only the first few minutes

shoshanim999

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 8:12 pm

#BestBubby wrote:

Yes, that is what one is required to accept.

People who survived the Holocaust still believed Hashem is good -

although there were also many Jews who rejected Hashem after the Holocaust.

I agree with you. We accept it blindly and that's it.

I feel there's a difference between understanding why and how something is good as opposed to blindly accepting that something is good when logic says the opposite. With hashem we are often forced to blindly accept his goodness without logical comprehension. That's very unsatisfying and difficult. I believe that's why so many of the emunah books have hundreds of stories that all have happy endings. It's very hard to accept that the tzoros and sadness in the world are really for our good. Instead they portray all the bad as merely a prelude to good that will surely come soon.

miami85

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 8:19 pm

Emunah is not "if I do what Hashem wants me to then everything will be fine" , Emunah is "I trust Hashem to know better than I do what I need.

Our Avos had hard lives, Yosef HaTzadik had a hard life, Moshe Rabbeinu had a hard life, Dovid HaMelech had a hard life--and yet he writes Tehillim the book we use when we are having a hard time.

In R' Sorotzkin's book about The End of Days it says that just like the end of labor is "I can't do this anymore" we have to believe that we are in that final phase of labor and Hashem wants us to say "enough of this galus, take me home!"

PinkFridge

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 8:47 pm

daffys wrote:

WHY WAS THIS REPORTED???
Hugs!
This is our avodah for life. If it was this easy, there wouldn't be much of a purpose.

PinkFridge

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 8:49 pm

IsraeliSoul wrote:

I must say, if you are a shomeret Torah while believing that Hashem is not good, you are incredible. Wouldn’t keep one shabbos if that’s what I would believe

I must say, that someone who says this must be going through a lot in her life. I don't think anyone here would say no hoping for some intellectual academic conversation.

PinkFridge

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 8:51 pm

miami85 wrote:

I don't want to derail things but how is he faithful to Gd if he doesn't even try to learn, teach, and espouse what Gd wants? Google Dennis Prager yom tov sheini.

One of the best approaches to this question is the magnificent book Making Sense of Suffering by Rabbi Yitzchak Kirzner, zt"l. (Written by Yonasan Rosenblum based on classes.

PinkFridge

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 8:55 pm

miami85 wrote:

This reminds me of something Rabbi Paysach Krohn says. Shortly before his father, zt"l, was niftar, he and his brother spent Shabbos in the hospital. They davened in Breuer's and Rav Schwab, zt"l, asked after him. R' Krohn said, I have bitachon that he'll have a refuah shleima. Rav Schwab gave him a reality check: that's not bitachon; bitachon is believing that what Hashem does is just and right.

I have to reread BadTichelDay's post again. I think it was very wise.

Learning

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 10:12 pm

This question is a very deep question. The answer can be found only deep in your heart because we don’t have anything else to rely on. Hashem put deep in our heart the notion that he is good even though everything around us doesn’t look like that.

shoshanim999

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 10:37 pm

Learning wrote:

It might be a deep question but the answer is somewhat simplistic and unsatisfying.

Q: Is hashem good?

A: Of course hashem is good!

Q: Then why is there so much suffering?

A: We don't know, but even so, hashem is good. Just accept it.

And we do accept it. But it's somewhat hollow and sometimes doesn't feel good. I read one of the posters upthread saying that she's comforted that hashem "is with her". But it really comes back to the same question of how is hashem with her? Would she be comforted if she could see into the future that hashem will giver her suffering and hardship? Is that really comforting? I'm sorry if this is triggering for some people. I struggle with this and find that it's best for me not to think about it too much.

shaynala

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 11:28 pm

I went through a very very difficult time in my life; something objectionably difficult related to my young child.
I went through a very painful period of time; thoughts like- how do I really know everything that Hashem does is for the good? HOW CAN THIS BE GOOD??? and more, filled my mind.
does Hashem really love me? does Hashem really love my child? how can I feel secure in His love, when this happened to my child?
I gave myself space. I gave myself time in nature. I started to see all the things Hashem does for me that I need to be thankful for. I started to trust Hashem again. It took time.
slowly I started to remind myself:
Kol Mah D'avid, Rachmana L'Tav Avid.
I found solace in books about the Holocaust, and survivors who retained their Emunah. I watched Holocaust documentaries and the Emunah of the survivors gave me strength, gave me back some of my Emunah. I listened to music that inspired me- like Ani Maamin B'Nissim...
Hashem really really loves you. We don't know why. We can't know why. But know that we really will know why.
Here, on earth, there are no answers.
In heaven there will be no more questions.

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