"The Way of G-d"

Part 2: “Divine Providence”
Chapter 3: “Personal Providence”

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G-d takes absolutely everything into account when assessing our worldly situations: this very moment, everything preceding it, and everything following it. And all with an eye towards our own -- as well as everything else's -- place in the universe. As such, G-d's assessments and subsequent decisions are utterly all-encompassing, all-inclusive, and based on infinite wisdom (as one would only expect).

Another point to be made is that G-d doesn't only base our life situations on our own actions at any one time, as we tend to think. He also bases them on the actions of our ancestors (both those ancestors immediately preceding us, and those further back), what our descendants will do, and on what our contemporaries, our neighbors, and the like do. Only then does He determine our situation. Which is to say that we and our lives are always seen in a context, and that allowances are made for us and expectations had of us based on that context.

All this goes to explain why some people are born or settle into wealthy or poor families and societies, healthy or sickly ones, and the like.

We tend to think it unfair how these sorts of things "happen". But let it be said from the outset that nothing just "happens"; it's all layed out by G-d Almighty. And that the reason why we think things are sometimes unfair is because we tend to see our own lives from a rather askewed, one-sided perspective, while G-d sees factors everything in.

Make no mistake about it, though. This all has to do with our worldly situation. It's we who determine our eternal situation in The World to Come by our actions.

This series is dedicated to the memory of Yitzchak Hehrsh ben Daniel, and Sarah Rivka bas Yaakov Dovid.

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