OCTOBER 19 • 2023 | 53
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O

ne question, asked in 
faith, has the power to 
change a life. I know 
because it changed mine. It 
happens when you ask: What 
is God calling on me to do in 
these circum-
stances at this 
time? 
To believe 
in Divine 
Providence is to 
trust that God is 
interwoven in our 
lives. This does 
not make suffering less painful. 
But it opens a door that leads us 
to the light. It helps us live a life 
that is an answer to God’s call.
I learned this from the bibli-
cal story of Joseph. Envied and 
hated by his brothers, he was 
sold into slavery by them, lucky 
not to be killed. Eventually he 
became viceroy of Egypt, second 
only to Pharaoh. The brothers, 
arriving in Egypt to buy food 
during a famine, do not realize 
that the man in royal robes 
is their brother. After putting 

them through a series of trials to 
show that they had repented of 
what they did, Joseph revealed 
his identity and forgave them 
— the first act of forgiveness in 
literature. The book of Genesis, a 
set of variations on the theme of 
sibling rivalry, ends on this sub-
lime note of reconciliation.
How was Joseph able to 
forgive? The Bible tells us. He 
says to his brothers: “Do not be 
distressed and do not be angry 
with yourselves for selling me 
here, because it was to save lives 
that God sent me ahead of you 
… So then, it was not you who 
sent me here, but God.
” 
This is one of the most trans-
formative passages in the Bible. 
It explains how Joseph was able 
to free himself from the hurt 
and humiliation he surely felt 
at being betrayed by his own 
family. Nowadays this is called 
cognitive behavioral therapy. 
Joseph changed the way he felt 
by changing the way he thought.
Evidently, he had asked 
himself, “Why has God put me 

through this suffering?” But 
there are two ways of asking it, 
and it makes all the difference 
which way we do. One is orient-
ed to the past: “What did I do to 
deserve this? For what sin am I 
being punished?” The other is 
directed to the future: “What is 
it that God wants me to do, that 
I can only do here, now and in 
these circumstances?”
Joseph must have asked this 
second question often during 
the long years he spent, first as 
a slave, then as a prisoner. The 
answer eventually came. The 
moment he was taken from 
prison to interpret Pharaoh’s 
dreams — seven years of plenty 
followed by seven years of fam-
ine — he realized that all the 
seemingly random events of his 
life were a preparation for this 
moment when he was able to 
devise a plan that would save a 
whole region from starvation. 
As soon as he had these 
thoughts, he was able to forgive 
his brothers. His fate, he now 
knew, was not about them at 

all. “It was not you who sent me 
here but God.
” That one thought 
has the power to cure resent-
ment and banish pain.
Whenever we come close to 
despair, the strongest lifeline is 
to think like Joseph. That is how 
psychotherapist Viktor Frankl 
saved the lives of several of his 
fellow prisoners in Auschwitz, 
by helping them realize that 
they had a task to perform or a 
mission to fulfil that they could 
only do by surviving. This gave 
them the will to live. 
People who have suffered 
tragedy have often found mean-
ing by alleviating the suffering 
of others. The grief may not dis-
appear, but it is redeemed. The 
adagio, with its intense sadness, 
is not the last movement of the 
symphony.
Seen through the eyes of faith, 
life is not what Joseph Heller 
called it: “a trash bag of random 
coincidences blown open in a 
wind.
” 
Each of us is here for a rea-
son, to do something only we 
can do, and all the pain and 
heartbreak are bearable if we 
can discern God’s purpose or 
hear, however muffled, His call. 
As Nietzsche used to say, “He 
who has a strong enough Why 
can bear almost any How.
”
In crisis, the wrong question 
to ask is, “What have I done to 
deserve this?” The right one is, 
“What am I now being sum-
moned to do?” Each of us has 
a task. Every life has a purpose. 
We can bear the pain of the past 
when we discover the future we 
are called on to make. 

This essay was published in the Times 

on May 18, 2013. Rabbi Lord Jonathan 

Sacks (1948-2020) was a global reli-

gious leader, philosopher, the author 

of more than 25 books and moral 

voice for our time. His series of essays 

on the weekly Torah portion, entitled 

“Covenant & Conversation” will contin-

ue to be shared and distributed around 

the world. 

Rabbi Lord 
Jonathan 
Sacks

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

When In Despair, 
Think of Your Set Task

