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WHY DO WE EXIST? What's the purpose of our lives? Most people of faith will answer, "the purpose of life is to know God and to love Him forever," and yet this is merely an academic answer until it is spoken from a heart that has been tested. In other words, we can only genuinely know and love God through the purifying struggle of testing...
The life of faith is education for eternity... "This world is like a corridor before the World to Come; prepare yourself in the corridor, that you may enter into the hall." God tests us along the way, disciplining and correcting us, so that we are no longer "two souled" but rather strong of faith, with singleness of vision and purpose.
A student once asked his rebbe: "Do we get punished for our sins in this world?" His concise response was, "Only if we are made fortunate..." The same can be said of testing: trials given to us by God are really opportunities. God "hides his face from us" so that we will seek him. "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." The venture of seeking God creates inward strength that cannot be gained apart from the exercise of faith.
Not everyone is blessed with being tested by God. Some people are overlooked. The righteous person - the tzaddik - is always under God's scrutiny, both in order to refine his character and to bring about correction. This scrutiny is a sure sign of God's love, for God disciplines those whom he receives as his children (see Heb. 12:5-11). If we endure chastisement, we are being received as his sons.
So we are tested to confirm our identity as God's children. Purity of the heart is to will one thing, and divine testing functions as a "refining fire" that removes the dross of ambivalence from our hearts. For the righteous, the various trials of life ask a divine question addressed to the heart of faith: Do you love me? Will you trust me now - in this place? with this trouble? in this darkness? As we believe, we are given more revelation, and that, in turn, further vindicates God's faithfulness and love.
Remaining steadfast in faith is the way we express our love to God: "Happy is the one who endures testing, because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life (עֲטֶרֶת ×”Ö·×—Ö·×™Ö¼Ö´×™×) that God promised to those who love him" (James 1:12). The "tested genuineness of your faith" is precious to God and will bring praise and glory and honor when the Messiah's righteousness is vindicated upon the earth (1 Pet. 1:7).
So remember that God sends us trials so we might turn to Him for help... As Yitzchok Hutner once wisely said, "The main purpose of tefilah (i.e., תְפִלָה, prayer) is not to get us out of problems. The purpose of problems is to get us into tefilah." Amen. May you turn to the LORD and be strengthened in all the tests that come your way, chaverim.
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 11:5 Hebrew reading:
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