A king was once traveling when he heard a woman’s cries for help in the woods nearby. He dashed into save the beautiful woman from her attacker. He was enchanted by her appearance and her character and soon after married her and made her his queen.

Much to his displeasure, his new queen, lived in the palace independent of the king. He yearned for some interaction with her but she seemed to be too involved with other matters to pay attention to the depressed monarch. One day he hired some soldiers to masquerade as bandits to attack the queen as she traveled on a state visit to a nearby village. As soon as the queen cried for help, the king once again came to the rescue. Afterwards she once again showered him with thanks and praise. Soon after one of her confidants revealed the king’s game to her. Angrily she demanded an explanation from the sovereign.

“When you cried out the day I met you I felt so good to be able to save you and bring you to the palace. Being in contact with you became the highlight of every day. Then you became withdrawn and I yearned for our old relationship. That is the only reason I hired the soldiers to play act another emergency rescue situation.”

Hashem wants all of us to recognize His presence and His control of life activity. If we pray and acknowledge His magnificence while things are going well — then He continues to shower us with bounty. However, should we begin to ignore His sovereignty over human affairs, He creates a situation where we need His help and cry out to Him again.

Today –as things are going well –stop. Appreciate for a moment the kind providence of your Father in Heaven’s protective behavior. Don’t get so involved so as to forget that it ALL comes from Him. Don’t create a scenario where he might feel that He needs to create a situation that will emit a distress signal. It only takes a minute to recognize the boss but it can save from hours of aggravation.

CONSIDER THIS FOR A MINUTE

The Gemara reveals that a man who is careful with the laws of family purity will be blessed with sons. Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi added that they would become Torah authorities.

Rebbi Hiya bar Abba said one who is careful with the Habdallah blessings would be blessed with sons and Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi added that they too would become proficient in Torah. [Shebuot 18a]

Raymond J Beyda
www.raymondbeyda.com

Text Copyright © 2004 by Rabbi Raymond Beyda and Torah.org.