Accepting God’s Will: Serving the Creator in Every Life Situation

Accepting the “yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven” means willingly embracing God’s guidance with love, and seeking to understand what God wants from me at this very moment. It means striving to fulfill His will, even if the task feels small or unimportant in my own eyes.

Sometimes a person wants deeply to perform a certain mitzvah or spiritual act, but life circumstances do not allow it. For example:

• A woman may wish to do acts of kindness outside her home or pray in synagogue on Rosh Hashanah, but caring for her children keeps her from going.

• A man may want to study Torah all day, but due to financial struggles he must work — though still setting fixed times for learning.

• A woman may dream of building a large charitable network, but is occupied with caring for her aging parents.

However, true service of God is not about doing what seems “great” to us, but about doing what God wants from us now, in the exact circumstances He has arranged for us. That is the highest and truest form of worship.

Letting Go of My Own Opinion

Accepting the yoke of Heaven means setting aside my personal judgment — for example, assuming that praying in synagogue on Rosh Hashanah is greater than caring for my children, and instead recognizing that if God has placed me with my children now, then that is my Rosh Hashanah service.

When I do what God truly wants from me in this moment, I give Him the greatest pleasure — and that is when I have truly accepted His Kingship.

A Rabbi’s Response to Loss of Ability

A woman once came to a rabbi and said that her husband had been a man of tremendous kindness, helping countless people, but now he was paralyzed and could no longer do acts of kindness.

She asked painfully, “Why won’t Heaven let him continue his good deeds?” The rabbi replied: “A Jew does not do kindness simply because they want to. They do kindness because God wants it. Now that your husband is paralyzed, God no longer wants his service through kindness, but rather, He wants his service in this new state.”

Even Abraham Could Set Aside His “Signature Mitzvah”

Abraham, the pillar of kindness, spent his life welcoming and helping strangers. Yet when Sarah told him that Ishmael’s behavior threatened Isaac’s future, God commanded Abraham: “Listen to Sarah’s voice” (Genesis 21:12).

Abraham sent his own son and Hagar into the wilderness with minimal provisions. His kindness was never about doing what he wanted, but about doing what God wanted.

On Yom Kippur — Sometimes Eating Is the Mitzvah

On Yom Kippur, God commands us to fast. But if someone is ill and fasting endangers their life, then not fasting is God’s will, because “you shall greatly guard your lives” (Deuteronomy 4:15). Eating in such a case fulfills the mitzvah as fully as fasting would.

Rabbi Yisrael Salanter once faced such a situation. A dangerous, highly contagious illness spread through the town of Salant, and doctors ordered everyone to eat to avoid weakening themselves. When people hesitated to eat on Yom Kippur, Rabbi Yisrael stood in the synagogue, made Kiddush over wine, ate and drank publicly, and ordered the congregation to do the same, as that was God’s will in that moment.

The Heart of It

Accepting the yoke of Heaven means lowering our head, bending our will to God’s, and fulfilling His desire at each stage of life.

When we live this way:

• We draw spiritual benefit from every trial.

• We grow closer to our Creator through the very difficulties we face.

• We free ourselves from needless sadness and the false belief that we are “not progressing” in serving God. True progress means doing His will, not ours.