Finding Strength in Times of Despair: How Faith Can Be Your Anchor

“I have loved you,” says Hashem (Malachi 1:2). These words express a truth that lies at the heart of Jewish faith, yet one that is often difficult to feel, especially in a world filled with pressure, disappointment, and uncertainty.

Expectations in a Fast World

As technology advances, many things that were once complicated have become easy. With the push of a button, we can communicate across the world, solve problems quickly, and access endless information. Along with this convenience, expectations have grown.

People begin to believe that everything should be simple and immediate. A person with a small amount of money imagines opening a business, taking loans, securing investments, and quickly seeing profits. When reality does not match these expectations, disappointment follows.

The greater the expectation, the deeper the disappointment. Over time, this gap can lead to sadness, irritability, anxiety, and fear about the future. The heart becomes tense, caught in a struggle between hope and frustration.

Searching for Relief

In such moments, people often ask: What is the solution? Therapy? Medication? Natural remedies?

While medicine may sometimes calm symptoms, it cannot bring true joy or meaning. At best, it may dull the pain. Without addressing the root of the struggle, relief remains temporary and often comes with side effects.

True healing begins only when a person chooses to understand their situation differently.

Understanding Who Is Leading

The most direct and effective solution, especially for emotional and mental distress, begins with one core truth: a person is led, not leading.

Although humans have free will, Jewish faith teaches that this freedom mainly applies to effort, choice, and moral struggle, especially in matters of Torah and mitzvot. Even there, success itself is not guaranteed by effort alone. Outcomes are in Hashem’s hands.

In matters unrelated to mitzvot, such as livelihood, health, marriage, children, honor, and success, a person does not control the results at all. Planning and effort are required, but the final outcome follows what has been decreed from Heaven.

Recognizing this truth can already bring relief. But it is not enough on its own.

Beyond Acceptance: Knowing It Is Love

Even someone who believes that Hashem governs the world may still feel angry or bitter about what happens to them. Knowing that something is just does not automatically make it easy to accept.

This is why faith requires an additional foundation: the understanding that everything Hashem does is done from love.

Hashem’s love for a person is beyond human comprehension. It is not distant or abstract. It is caring, involved, and deeply concerned with a person’s success and purpose. When a person suffers, Hashem suffers with them. When a person cries, Hashem is present in that pain.

This awareness is a healing balm for the soul.

From a Natural Perspective

What greater comfort can there be than knowing one is held in the hands of a compassionate Creator? The health of one’s body and soul, livelihood, relationships, dignity, peace, and future are all in His care.

Hashem can change a person’s situation in an instant. Therefore, one should never lose hope. Our sages taught that even if a sharp sword rests upon a person’s neck, one should never despair of mercy.

When a person truly feels this, their heart becomes steadier. Even in difficult circumstances, they know they are being watched over. They are not abandoned. Everything is guided with care, concern, and purpose.

Why Despair Takes Hold

When people lack this awareness, they fall into despair. Without faith, hope rests only on chance, statistics, and natural causes. When those seem to fail, nothing remains to lean on.

Even people who believe in Hashem can fall into despair if they forget that His actions come from love. When they see others who suffered and collapsed, they fear the same fate awaits them, not realizing that collapse comes from losing this awareness, not from the hardship itself.

From Hashem’s side, there is always supervision. No one is left to perish. But when a person disconnects from this truth, despair grows on its own.

The Power of Turning to Hashem

All human salvation depends on knowing that there is a listening ear. When a person knows that Hashem hears them and cares, they can stand up even in deep pain and pray.

What strength comes from pouring out one’s heart to the Creator, knowing those words are heard by the One who heals all flesh and performs wonders.

Without this awareness, prayer itself becomes difficult. If a person mistakenly sees Hashem as harsh, distant, or uncaring, they will feel unable to speak to Him at all.

Where Else Can One Turn

If not to Hashem, then to whom? To people who themselves depend on divine decree? To professionals who, without divine help, are limited in what they can offer?

Jewish tradition warns that methods detached from faith, especially those that encourage forbidden indulgence or moral compromise, do not heal the soul. On the contrary, such paths often deepen the harm.

The Torah teaches that spiritual stability and blessing depend on holiness and restraint. When boundaries are broken, the Divine Presence withdraws, and confusion follows. Healing cannot come from the very behaviors that caused the wound.

In Essence: “There Is None Besides Him”

Beyond natural comfort lies a deeper principle known as “There is none besides Him.”

The Rambam explains that when a person truly internalizes that no power exists besides Hashem, then measure for measure, no other force can dominate them. When one attributes everything solely to Hashem, natural forces lose their hold.

This principle works only when combined with the understanding that Hashem’s actions are rooted in mercy and kindness. Merely knowing the words is not enough. The heart must believe that everything Hashem does is meant to benefit, even when it is difficult.

When judgment appears, it transforms into mercy in the mind of the believer, and so it becomes mercy in reality.

Strengthening This Awareness

Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin taught that when a person binds their thoughts completely to Hashem alone and does not attribute power to any other force, Hashem removes all external influences from them.

This does not mean that effort disappears or challenges vanish instantly. It means that nothing can harm a person beyond what Hashem allows, and whatever occurs is guided by compassion.

Love as the Foundation

At every moment, in every situation, a person is welcome before Hashem. Repentance is always accepted. Prayer is always heard. Caring for human needs is never a burden for the Creator. On the contrary, it is His will that people recognize His love and uniqueness.

When this awareness becomes steady, fear loosens its grip. Anxiety fades. Hope returns. A person lives with faith, knowing that even when the path is painful, it is guided by love.

This article is adapted from the book 'Living with Faith' by Rabbi Yaakov Israel Lugasi.