Welcome to the Daily Chizuk (encouragement). It says in the Tehillim, “Anokhi Hashem Elokecha hama'alcha me'eretz Mitzrayim, harchev picha va'amalehu,” which means: I am Hashem who lifted you up from Mitzrayim. So open your mouths wide and I will fill them. The Gemara interprets this Pasuk (verse) as talking about asking Hashem for help with Torah and spirituality. And Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz explains the connection between the beginning of the Pasuk and the end: “I am Hashem who lifted you from the 49th level of Tumah (impurity) and Mitzrayim all the way to the 49th level of Kedushah (holiness) and Har Sinai.” Hashem is saying, “I can help you with your spiritual life. There's just one condition: open your mouth wide and ask.” And the wider you open, the more you want, the more you will get.
The tests in religion are not easy. The Gemara in Kiddushin says that our evil inclination is very strong and challenges us every day. And if Hashem doesn't help us, we won't be able to beat Him. A person might claim to Hashem, “It was too hard. I had to make time for studying Torah. I had to watch what goes in my mouth and what comes out of my mouth. I had to guard my eyes from seeing the wrong things and my ears from hearing the wrong things. It was hard to keep Shabbat. My friends were pulling me in the wrong direction. My spouse didn't want me to be religious. What could I do?” And these are all great claims. But the reply will be, “Why didn't you ask me for help?”
Rabbi Pincus once gave a mashal (parable). One night in the hospital, all the doctors went home to sleep from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. They told the doctor who stayed back, “The patient should sleep through the night. But if they wake up, they have a lot of needs and they're in critical condition. You have to call us to come. You can't handle it by yourself.” At 2 a.m., someone woke up, and the doctor went to help him. Then another person woke up, and he went to help him. Then another person woke up. They all started waking up, and the doctor was running back and forth frantically. And lo aleinu (God forbid), one of the patients didn't make it. The next morning, everyone was yelling at him: “What are you doing? How could you do this?” He said, “What do you want from me? It was too many people to tend to. I couldn't handle it myself.” And they said, “You're right. You should have called for help.”
That's the same thing with our evil inclination. It's very difficult, but we should call out to Hashem for help. If you have an area in religion that you haven't been successful in, ask Hashem: “Hashem, please help me. I want to do what's right. I just need help.” If you feel like you stopped growing and you have no desire to get better, ask Hashem, “Please give me the desire to want to be better.” If a man has difficulty learning Torah, doesn't want to go out of the house at night to learn, or has difficulty comprehending the Torah, ask Hashem, “Please give me a love for the Torah. Let me understand the Torah.”
Just last week, I was learning a very difficult drash (homiletic interpretation) with a few boys, and we read the drash two or three times. We had no idea what he was saying. So I told the boys, “It's because we didn't pray hard enough for understanding of Torah. And let's ask Hashem now to give us the peshat (plain meaning) and the drash.” So we all prayed. We read the drash again, and this time it clicked. The words seemed so obvious. We couldn't believe why we hadn't understood it before. Hashem opened our minds.
The Ya'arot Devash writes, “If you see one boy having more success in his Torah study than his friend, then it's not because of his brains. It's because he asked Hashem for help.” If your children are not following the religion properly, or they don't want to pray, or they don't want to learn, ask Hashem, “Please give them the desire to be religious.” This is our Hishtadlut (effort). And the more you ask, the more you will get. As the Pasuk said, “Open your mouth wide.” Even if you have difficulty praying, ask Hashem to help you pray. If a person doesn't have emunah (faith), ask Hashem to give you more emunah. Whatever it is, ask Hashem. He's waiting to help you. Shabbat Shalom.