Serving Hashem With What We Have

Toward the end of the chagim, we read Kohelet, written by Shlomo HaMelech. While reading it, I thought about Shlomo’s father, King David, and I discovered something fascinating that never struck me before. From his beginnings as a shepherd to the times he was homeless, running and hiding from his enemies, King David in his Psalms describes himself as a worm, poor, and destitute. 

Certainly, these aren’t the first words that come to mind when one conjures up an image of royalty. In his overview of the Artscroll Tanach Series of Kohelet, Rabbi Nosson Scherman compares King David and King Solomon’s life. King David’s life was filled with hardship and suffering. But as Rabbi Scherman so eloquently explains, “King David’s life was a chain of fasting and self-denial” as a means of overcoming his yetzer hara. As he fought internally with his evil inclination, so too did he fight his external enemies, as a man of war. 

Quite the opposite, Shlomo HaMelech lived in the lap of lavishness, indeed had every luxury imaginable, including a total of one thousand wives and concubines, an excess of horses, feasts, and did not deprive himself of “any kind of joy” (Kohelet). And yet, Shlomo calls it all futile. Despite having everything, he tells us, in the end, our duty is simply to fear Hashem and do the mitzvot. By surrounding himself with such luxury, Shlomo Hamelech deduced, it was all meaningless, except for the service of G-d.

It’s not as important how much we give to charity, as long as we make an effort to give something. Not everybody is expected to become a talmid chacham, but one can perhaps make the choice to listen to a shiur while commuting to work.

This dichotomy got me thinking about the ways each of us serve Hashem. Some of us may have very little financially, limited family, few friends, be between jobs, or in an unstable living arrangement. Others may be blessed with wealth, a large families or social networks, a stable job, and a comfortable home. And yet, regardless of which group we fit in, we all have the same purpose here on Earth — to keep the Torah and do Mitzvot. Many times we can get caught up in comparing ourselves to people around us. We offer excuses like, “if I had the money like so-and-so, I could give more,” or “if I didn’t have to work so hard, I could learn more.” While both of those statements might be true, I believe Hashem expects us to do His will with what we are given. It’s not as important how much we give to charity, as long as we make an effort to give something. Not everybody is expected to become a talmid chacham, but one can perhaps make the choice to listen to a shiur while commuting to work.

We all have different challenges in life, but as long as the service of Hashem is our primary goal, we can learn to come closer to Him with what we have. With a bit of chizuk and creativity, what may have seemed impossible becomes doable. Let me give you an example. Imagine Shabbat. A clean house. The smell of Shabbat food wafting about. A beautifully set table, complete with a vase full of colorful flowers. But what if it’s not possible to have flowers adorn the table each week? Perhaps the bills are a bit tight and you don’t have flowers to cut from your yard. Then what? You know your neighbor always has a table set for royalty and it irks you. How can your table compare? Remember chizuk and creativity. The chizuk is to remind yourself that your purpose is to serve Hashem. Forget about the neighbor and don’t let the meddlesome yetzer hara irk you. You can serve Hashem with what you have. Here’s the creativity part. Real flowers are lovely, but if it doesn’t fit in your budget, try making some of your own! A fun project I’ve done with my children is making pretty flowers out of tissue paper or construction paper. You can find lots of tutorials online. And guess what? It was a great activity we did together as a family, it brightened up our table as well as any store-bought flowers, and my kids felt so much pride in contributing to the beautifully set Shabbat table. On the flip side, if you are blessed with wealth, you can add ways to enhance the mitzvot you do or help those less fortunate enhance theirs. For example, you can send flowers or another Shabbat treat to a family who is going through a difficult time, along with a note letting them know you are thinking of them. You can get creative with any number of mitzvot in a similar fashion.

Both kings, David HaMelech and Shlomo HaMelech, lived very different lives, but remained holy servants of G-d. In a similar vein, we all lead different lives, but can choose to remain focused on the ultimate goal and purpose of life — serving Hashem. As long as we don’t get sidetracked by our yetzer hara, we can do just that, with what we were given.