“How is it that we allow God to bring evil to the world?!” said Rebbe Nachman. We must call God away from all His other tasks!
Rebbe Nachman once said: How is it that we allow God to bring evil to the world?! We must call God away from all His other tasks. We must draw Him away from issuing these decrees (this was at the time of the Czar’s Ukase). We must tell Him to put everything else aside and listen to us. Whenever a Jew wants to talk to God, to pour out his heart before Him in prayer, God ceases whatever He is doing at that moment, as it were. Instead, He turns to listen to that individual who wants to draw closer to Him (Rebbe Nachman’s Wisdom #70).
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“God is good for all” (Psalms 145:9). God is good for everything. Everything a person needs he can pray for – and God can supply it. Whether it’s health, sustenance, children, other necessities of life or especially spiritual needs – God can provide everything (Likutey Moharan I, 14:11).
Whenever a Jew wants to talk to God, to pour out his heart before Him in prayer, God ceases whatever He is doing at that moment, and turns to listen to him!
“How does one arouse one’s heart to serve God?” Reb Yudel once asked the Rebbe. “Through the power of speech,” the Rebbe answered. “articulate the words with your lips, recite the Psalms and other prayers, say them constantly and your heart will become aroused” (Tzaddik #441). Elsewhere, Rebbe Nachman teaches: speech has a tremendous power to arouse a person to serve God. Therefore, even if you feel your words lack heart, keep saying them. Say them in whatever way you can. After a while, the “heartless” words will arouse you to serve God (Likutey Moharan II, 98).
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“Your bodies are so gross and attached to physicality,” Rebbe Nachman once said to his followers. “You must wear it down with words of holiness!” (Tzaddik #443). The Rebbe told the following parable about the greatness of persistent prayer: A king asked his son to transfer an extremely large stone to the tower of the palace. No matter what the prince tried, he could not figure out a way to lift such a huge stone, let alone get it up to the tower. Finally, the king said, “Do you really think I expect you to carry it in one piece? Chip away at the stone with a chisel and hammer, and each day bring up the pieces. Eventually , the entire stone will have been brought up to the tower.” Similarly, in serving god, persistent, daily prayer – hitbodedut – chips away at the heart of stone and elevates a person to God (Tzaddik #441).
“God is good for all” (Psalms 145:9). God is good for everything!
Rebbe Nachman teaches: The wise person will pray his entire life to speak just one totally truthful word to God (Likutey Moharan I, 112). There are different levels of truth. There are those whose speech transmits a little bit of truth. They have truth within themselves, but it cannot radiate out to enlighten others. Then, there are those special individuals who have such a high level of truth within themselves, that each and every word they say has the power to enlighten others with truth (Likutey Moharan I, 9:3).
You might ask yourself, “how much truth do my words transmit?” If you’re truthful with yourself, you’ll probably want to raise your level. After all, if the Rebbe says that it’s worth spending an entire lifetime to speak just one totally truthful word… The key to achieving this is hitbodedut. Praying in your own words, with your own truth, and with the deep feelings of your heart, will bring you to ever higher levels of truth. Then, to whatever degree you have achieved this, your words will transmit that truth and may even enlighten others.
(Taken from the book Crossing the Narrow Bridge: A Practical Guide to Rebbe Nachman’s Teachings chapter 9)
