"The Way of G-d"

Part 2: “Divine Providence”
Chapter 3: “Personal Providence”

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If we've learned nothing else so far about G-d's interactions with us it's that He draws upon many, many factors, negative and positive, when determining our life-situation. But don't make the mistake of thinking that each factor cited up to now automatically comes into play. After all, many of them out-and-out contradict each other, while some are simply outweighed by others that are far more pressing.

At bottom, the point is that only G-d in His great wisdom can balance and determine each factor, and that ultimately at least one of the factors we've enumerated will be involved.

Understand, then, that what we've presented so far have been overarching principles of Divine Providence, not hard-and-fast rules. For G-d alone knows our hearts and the hearts of all around us, as well as the makeup of all past, present, and future at a glance. Hence, only He can arrive at just the right "recipe" for all the fresh, ripe things available to concoct our life. But not only our lives-- the life of the universe en toto as well. Since His ultimate aim is to bring all to perfection, as we've indicated.

So sometimes things that ordinarily, nearly always bring about one thing or another simply don't (sometimes exasperatingly so). And oftentimes unexpected, wild, or even absurd things happen, despite it all. Simply because whole other factors, sometimes far beyond our ken and utterly contradictory, come into play unbeknownst to us.

As such, for example, a person who'd be expected to be wealthy considering his background, training, contacts, and skills, might be poor in the end. All because of a character flaw or sin that might have had nothing to do with his business life. Or sometimes someone who seemed unworthy of good fortune enjoys it anyway, because he did something (also perhaps utterly unrelated) t hat had him deserve it. The same holds true for so many other instances of success or failure, well-being or ill-health and the like.

All we know in the end is that G-d knows; and that all is as it must be, for one good reason or another.

This series is dedicated to the memory of Yitzchak Hehrsh ben Daniel, and Sarah Rivka bas Yaakov Dovid.

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