Day 38/50: Efforts Not Results

 עֲלֵ֥ה אֵלַ֛י הָהָ֖רָה… וְאֶתְּנָ֨ה לְךָ֜ אֶת־לֻחֹ֣ת הָאֶ֗בֶן וְהַתּוֹרָה֙ וְהַמִּצְוָ֔ה

Come up to Me to the mountain… and I will give you the stone tablets, the law and the commandments

We tend to think of success in terms of results, but Hashem does not seek great successes and big achievements from us. Whether we succeed in a big way or not, is ultimately His business. All He asks from us is that we try to get a little stronger every day and do what we can at this point in time.

Our struggle with the Yetzer Hara is even more precious to Hashem than our ultimate success. Hashem has enough great and powerful malachim in shamayim, but only humans struggle with the Yetzer Hara and can give Hashem a Nachas Ruach through that.

The Zohar in Parshas Tetzava writes:

“For there is no light besides that which comes out of darkness… Avodas Hashem can only be through darkness. There can be no good, only though bad. And when a person goes in a bad path and then leaves it, the Master of the World’s honor is elevated… And this is called an “avodah shleimah” (a complete service of Hashem).”

It is brought down in the sefer Menucha v’Kedusha, written by a talmid of R’ Chaim Volozhiner, that even a person who sins his whole life can still be considered a Tzadik, as long as he never gives up and always continues to fight!