Faith and Furniture: How Buying a Table and Chairs Becomes a Test of Belief

In Chovot HaLevavot (Duties of the Heart), “Sha’ar HaBitachon,” it is explained that there is a difference in how faith in Divine Providence applies between spiritual matters and material matters.

For spirituality, the desire and effort are left to a person’s free choice — how much they want to strive in serving God. The results in this area are determined by God’s decree. With material matters, however, we must believe that everything — from the very beginning of our effort until the final outcome, is completely subject to God’s decree.

A Test of Faith When Buying Furniture

How should a believing Jew approach buying a table and chairs?

He tells himself: I act within the natural order, comparing prices in a few stores, because it is God’s will that His world should be run through natural means. This is the decree placed upon humanity after Adam’s sin, “By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread.” I must exert myself physically, but with inner faith that my effort itself cannot change what has already been decreed for me.

This is like the parable, “Break the barrel but keep the wine” — we must labor naturally, but remain careful not to spill out our faith, even when the eyes deceive us into thinking that we ourselves are the ones making things happen.

Thus, the believer says in his heart: I believe that the table and chairs I eventually decide to buy are the exact ones that were already destined for me from Heaven. No other cause or circumstance can change that decree.

He therefore shops around, compares prices in a few stores, makes a purchase, and believes with calm faith: These are the ones God decreed would become mine.

When God Puts Faith to the Test

But as the verse says, “God tests the righteous.” How?

After making his purchase, a friend visits him, congratulates him on his new furniture, and asks, “So, how much did the table and chairs cost you?” He replies, “2,000 shekels.”

The friend exclaims: “2,000?! Just two streets over they sell the exact same set for 1,200 shekels!”

Indeed, the buyer had compared a few stores but had skipped that particular shop. It now seems that he “lost” 800 shekels.

Here lies the test:

• If he grows upset with himself by saying “How foolish! How lazy! How could I forget that store?”, then he shows that his faith was not genuine, since true faith means believing that what he bought was already decreed from Heaven.

• If he stays calm and says to himself: “Didn’t I already remind myself that my effort is only an act of nature, but the final outcome is decreed by Heaven? If so, what reason do I have to be distressed?”, then he proves his faith is real.

Even if at first he feels a sting of regret, the sooner he recovers his peace of mind, the higher his spiritual level is considered to be. The measure of faith is not whether one feels shaken at first, but how quickly one restores inner calm and trusts in God’s decree.

Sweetening Harsh Decrees

Ultimately, the main source of spiritual tests, inner dullness, and sadness comes about when judgments are aroused against a person in Heaven. Through faith, those judgments can be sweetened and nullified. (Shomer Emunim).