Hashem Always Answers Our Prayers—In His Own Way
Hashem Always Answers Our Prayers—In His Own Way
In Parashat Chukat, Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu that he will not be allowed to enter Eretz Yisrael. Parashat Va’etchanan begins with Moshe’s heartfelt plea that this decree be overturned: “Let me cross over, I pray, and see the good land beyond the Jordan.”
Moshe’s prayer contains two requests. He asks to cross the Jordan and enter the Land, and he asks to see its beauty. In the end, only one request is granted. Hashem allows Moshe to see Eretz Yisrael from the top of the mountain, but not to enter it.
From here our Chazal teach a remarkable lesson about the power of prayer tefillah.
Moshe’s lifetime of Torah, leadership, and countless mitzvot did not change the decree. Yet his tefillah was not in vain. Although it did not bring everything he asked for, it achieved something real. Half of his request was fulfilled. Tefillah always has an effect, even when the answer is different from what we hoped for.
Hashem always hears our tefillot. He never ignores them. But His wisdom is greater than ours, and His plans are often different from our own. Sometimes His answer is “yes.” Sometimes it is “not now.” Sometimes it is “no.” We do not always understand His response, and at times we may even think He has remained silent simply because His answer did not come in the form we expected.
A beautiful Chassidic story illustrates this idea.
A man was going through a very difficult time. He davened with all his heart, but nothing seemed to change. Broken and discouraged, he went to his Rebbe.
“Rebbe,” he cried, “I have poured out my heart before Hashem. I have davened with all my strength. Why doesn’t Hashem answer me?”
The Rebbe looked at him with great kindness and replied—but so quietly that the man could not hear a word.
“Rebbe,” he asked, moving closer, “what did you say?”
Again the Rebbe answered in a whisper.
The man leaned in even nearer until his ear was beside the Rebbe’s lips.
Only then did the Rebbe softly say, “Hashem always answers our tefillot. Sometimes He answers in a whisper, so that we must come closer to Him in order to hear.” Sometimes Hashem’s answer is delayed because the time is not yet right. We see only the present; He sees the whole picture.
There is a well-known story that captures this idea with a smile. A man asked Hashem, “Ribbono Shel Olam, what is a thousand years to You?”
Hashem replied, “Like a single minute.”
The man then asked, “And what is a million dollars to You?”
“Like a single penny,” came the answer.
“So,” the man said, “could You please give me a million dollars?”
“Of course,” Hashem replied. “Just wait a minute.”
The joke reminds us that Hashem’s sense of time is not ours. What feels like a long delay to us may be only a moment in His plan.
When we stand before Hashem in tefillah, it is important to remember two simple truths. First, tefillah is not about telling Hashem what to do. We ask, we plead, and we place our trust in Him—but we do not give instructions to the One who knows what is truly best.
Second, every sincere tefillah receives an answer. That answer may be “yes,” “not yet,” or “no.” Each one comes from our Hashem, who sees what we cannot. Even when His answer is not the one we hoped for, it is still for our ultimate good.
Emunah means believing that Hashem hears every word we say. Bitachon means trusting that His answer, whatever it may be, is wiser than our request. When we live with emunah and bitachon, we can continue to daven with all our hearts, knowing that no tefillah is ever lost.
Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weisz
