I remember when my son was very young and we were learning chumash (Bible) together and he was first learning how to read. And reading when you’re very young really is decoding. The beis with the two dots is a ba, the reish with the two dots that way is a rei. And he would slowly decode and we would practice reading together. And at a certain point I said to myself oh my goodness, this is very boring. I was glad to do it because it was my son, I was glad to be with him, but it was really very slow going. And I remember at a certain point looking down at a Rashi and as I was paying attention to what he was reading I sort of read the Rashi and I had a little bit of a question on it and then sort of came up with an answer and then before I knew it I had a shmuz. I had an entire shmuz, a question and answer, a new point, all from the time my son went from bereishis bara Elokim to the end of the pasuk (verse).
I think that’s a very important observation. Every once in a while we think we understand life. And every once in a while we have questions on Hashem, Hashem, why? Why not this, why not that, why this, why that, Hashem why? And the key point that a person must understand is that Hashem is a lot smarter than us. But not just a lot smarter, Hashem is so much more wise, so much more infinitely understanding, that for us to understand it it’s well, well beyond the difference between an adult and a child in terms of cognition.
My son could not imagine at the tender age of five or six that his father could not just read and decode instantly, but can understand things in context, ask questions, and see things back and forth. That was so many leagues beyond his level of understand that he couldn’t fathom it, couldn’t relate to it.
So too we have to understand that Hashem has a very broad vision. Hashem is wise beyond our understanding. Hashem has a plan, and many times we won’t understand the plan. Many times we’ll have questions, but the fact that I don’t understand doesn’t mean there isn’t a very real plan. The fact that I have questions doesn’t mean that Hashem doesn’t have the answers. Understanding that Hashem is far wiser than I could ever imagine and Hashem has a very clear plan for my life is the basis to learning to trust in Hashem.
