Welcome to the daily chizuk (encouragement). Who do you turn to when you need something? A person needs a shiduch (match), a refuah (healing), or parnasah (livelihood). You turn to Hashem. He loves when you look to Him for help. The pasuk (verse) says, “No one else can help you anyway.” Everything gets accomplished through tefillah (prayer). Our greats knew this with such clarity.
It says in Perek Bet (chapter two) of Nehemiah that Nehemiah was standing in front of the king, Daryavesh, and the king noticed that he was a little down and asked, “Why do you look so depressed today?” Nehemiah said, “The city of my ancestors, Yerushalayim, is in ruins, and I shouldn’t be down?” So the king said to him, “I want to help you.” And Rashi explains that the king said, “Ask me for whatever you want and I’ll grant it to you.” Imagine Nehemiah standing in front of the king, who is the most powerful and has the capability to help. But what does Nehemiah do? The next line says, “I pray to Hashem.” While he’s standing in front of the king, who promised him whatever he wants, Nehemiah knows the only one that matters is Hashem. So he first asked Hashem, and only afterwards did he ask the king to go back and rebuild Yerushalayim. If you have Hashem, you have everything. If you don’t, you have nothing. If someone is bothering you, how do you solve the problem? You talk to Hashem.
Someone told me a story the other day that happened to him about 10 years ago. He said that he did a lot of business with the Family Dollar stores, and they hired a new vice president. The vice president called him up and said, “Your shoes aren’t selling. I want $700,000 back in markdown money, and you have two weeks with no negotiating.” The man called up the buyer he normally deals with and said, “What’s going on?” The buyer said, “I’m sorry, I have no control.” He said, “If you don’t give back the $700,000, we can’t do business anymore.” Now, the man normally does a few million dollars a year with them. He can’t afford to lose them, but he can’t afford to give back $700,000 either. So what did he do? He said he went and begged Hashem, “Hashem, take care of this vice president for me. Only you can help me.” Ten days later, the vice president was fired. The buyer told the man nobody in the company knows why, but the man said thank you to Hashem, and he kept the $700,000.
All of your problems can be solved through tefillah. But what if you prayed and nothing happened yet? The Gemara in Berachot quotes the pasuk, and the Gemara explains: “Pray to Hashem.” And if you don’t see a response, don’t think the answer was no. Rather, strengthen yourself again and pray once more. Hashem knows that every time you pray, you grow spiritually and get closer to Him. He wants you to pray a certain number of times to reach that higher level, and then you will be granted your request. Sometimes it takes ten prayers; sometimes it takes ten years of prayers.
A rabbi once went to Rav Chaim Kanievsky and said, “I’ve been praying for seven years for something, and I still haven’t been answered. What should I do, Rabbi?” Rav Chaim Kanievsky said, “You weren’t answered yet? Then pray again. Maybe you need a few more tefillot.” Everything gets accomplished through tefillah. Never give up. Keep strengthening yourself. Have a great day.