What the Rav said:
The main thing is to know that every time a person needs a salvation, they test him from above.
The main test is that they bring a person some situation and they want to see if he will strengthen himself with genuine happiness.
And, when he really does strengthen himself, then this is a sign that he really does want to do Hashem’s will.
So, what does he care where he finds himself or what they do to him, after all at every moment I simply need to give my Creator pleasure.
If so, at this moment I need to give Him pleasure by strengthening myself with greater and endless happiness, and to really feel the kindness of Hashem which He does for me every single moment.
My thoughts:
Sometimes, the tests we face are difficult, but at least we know what we need to do to deal with the test or to fix the problem.
Other tests just seem difficult without any reason, or any apparent way out of the test.
The Rav explains to us here, that our job in these tests is just to keep happy and not fall into sadness or despair. The main part of the test is just to remain happy.
These are tests of emunah, and the main purpose of the test is to whether we’ll keep our faith in Hashem, that He is good, that He only does good, and that what’s happening to me right now must be good.
But, how do we keep happy when we find ourselves in a difficult situation?
Rabbenu has various pieces of advice throughout his writings for keeping happy. Some advice works for some people more than others, some advice works better in particular situations... Each person needs to find what works best for him.
My favourite two pieces of advice for remaining happy in a difficult situation are:
(i) throw away your intellect (don’t try and reason it out, don’t try to understand why this is happening to me, just accept it as it is) and,
(ii) dance (no explanation needed).
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