Q:
What is one supposed to think when he cries out to Hashem and Hashem doesn’t answer?
A:
We are supposed to think that Hakodosh Baruch Hu wants you to cry out even more. And suppose you cried out even more – let’s say a man is on his deathbed. He’s an old man, he’s 119 years old. Look, he can’t expect to live much more. But he cries out anyway on his deathbed, he wants to live. And finally he passes away. Did he waste his time? No! He achieved maybe in his last minutes more than he did all of his life. Because he’s thinking about Hashem.
Here’s an old man who’s crying out on his deathbed. He says “Hashem heal me”. “Oh that’s so silly!” you say. The bystanders think its ridiculous. He wants to be healed! How long do you want to hang around here? 119 years is not enough? And the answer is, it’s not enough. He wants to live a thousand years. Why shouldn’t he? He had a grandfather who lived a thousand years. Mesushelach lived almost a thousand years, so why shouldn’t he? So he’s crying out; he’s allowed to cry out. And don’t say that he didn’t accomplish what he wanted. He did accomplish! The crying out is the purpose of the deathbed – so that he should cry out to Hashem and become more and more aware of Him. That’s the biggest achievement there is. So nobody should ever be frustrated in crying out, because you are achieving. You are gaining more awareness of Hashem.
TAPE # 555 (June 1985)
