Reflections on the DIVINE Dialogue
We began EmunahSpeak: The King and I with:
“We are exhorted that our davening should not be an attempt to trigger a voice activated ATM machine. On the other hand, we are told with equal authority that we should ask Hashem for everything, even a paperclip or a tissue.”
And ended with:
“All you have to do is ask, and you shouldn’t be bashful about it either.”
While we spoke there about what to daven for and why we should be davening, we didn’t dig too deeply into the why of the what, or simply put, why should we be asking for this stuff to begin with?
Which stuff?
Not the big stuff, to be sure. We don’t have to ask why we should be asking for big things because we understand our taivas all too well for such a question.
Query: What do bleach, baby wipes, napkins, salt, toothpaste, bottled water, toilet paper, pampers, soap, and plastic cups have in common?
For our purposes they are shopping list chevra, and boring ones at that. So much so, that one would be hard pressed to conjure up a more banal representation of American consumerism, and yet these very humdrum everyday household items leave the realm of the physical and morph into the metaphysical when they are removed from the Costco shopping list and inserted into the tefillah because even the mundane things we ask for in the bakoshas are infused with kedusha.
This is the kind of stuff that gets Hashem’s attention, and the reason we are called upon to ask for it is because it is Hashem’s Will that we should be 100% dependent upon Him, which means that everything we think we need we have to ask for in tefillah if we want to get it through the proper channels. The flip side of His Will that we should be 100% dependent on Him is that nothing works unless we daven for it.
It’s like a ruchniyess version of easy come easy go.
If you didn’t daven for something that came your way, what you see is what you get. Think of it as Heavenly sent grey market goods that will end up somewhat south of the expected shelf life however one wants to define that.
The things that come to us by way of davening, however, have staying power because they come through the proper channels. They were sanctified from the get go just for the asking.
