Man thinks and G-d laughs

This old Yiddish saying (it’s translated from Mentsch Tracht uhn Gut Lacht) is a safe comeback from a rough day, perhaps a cynical escape of a small and faithless mind or a light’ish statement on a fundamental of Jewish faith.

How often do we plan out the outcome of a business endeavor, a human interaction or even the very realities of day to day life; good health, raising fine children or something as simple as your daily schedule, only to have things turn out completely different then we expected?

We often react with frustration because OUR plan get messed up. We knew how things should go and we had it all figured out, and then the circumstances got in the way. So is G-d really laughing at us?

—

Hide and go seek is a fun game that children can play for hours on end. For the seeker, the fun is the challenge and the mystery. For the hider the fun is knowing that the seeker is trying to discover how smart a hiding place you found.

But what happens if the seeker stops seeking or if the hider can’t be found? Or for that matter if you know where the hider is because they hide in plain sight? Game over!

Not to equate the above mentioned Yiddish phrase with Biblical status, but maybe G-d is indeed laughing, but not at us but because of us? In other words, when we realize that G-d is running the show and that He has a plan for us, and despite how smart we are and how good we’ve planned things out, G-d knows what’s best, well, we’ve just finished a round of hide and go seek with G-d as the hider and us as the seeker.

When we get the hang of it, and realize that G-d is always hiding in the same place, the Game Over! We don’t get nervous when it’s not going exactly as we planned because we know He is in charge.

So the next time you think that G-d is laughing, realize He is not laughing at you, but with you because you’ve just found His hiding place.

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