Soccer player Christian Pulisic faced several injuries that influenced his career. After learning he wouldn’t be in the starting lineup of the Champions League semifinals game, he was disappointed, but he said to himself: “As always, I reach out to God, and He gives me strength,” he said. “I feel like I always have Someone who’s with me. I don’t know how I would do any of this without that feeling.” Pulisic ultimately made a momentous impact when he was substituted later in the game. He initiated a clever play that led to the game-winning shot and secured their spot in the championship. These experiences taught him a valuable lesson: we can always view our weaknesses as opportunities for God to reveal His immeasurable power.
The world teaches us to rely on our own strength when
encountering problems. However, the story of our ancestors Exodus from Egypt
teaches us that God’s grace and power give us strength in the most trying
circumstances “And
God continued, “I have marked well the plight of My people in Egypt and have
heeded their outcry because of their taskmasters; yes, I am mindful of their
sufferings. I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring
them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and
honey, the region of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the
Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. (Exodus 3:7-8)”
A few chapters later God encouraged our ancestors “Say, therefore, to the Israelite
people: I am the Lord. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and
deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and
through extraordinary chastisements. And I will take you to be My people, and I
will be your God. And you shall know that I, the Lord, am your God who freed
you from the labors of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land which I
swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a
possession, I the Lord.” (Exodus 6:6-8)”
Therefore, as we celebrate Passover, we can move in
confidence, recognizing that we never face trials alone. Our “weaknesses”
become opportunities for God to reveal His power, strengthening and supporting
us. We can then use our struggles to offer praise to God, giving thanks for His
goodness just as we say in the Haggadah “Therefore we are obligated to thank, praise, laud, glorify,
exalt, lavish, bless, raise high, and acclaim He who made all these miracles
for our ancestors and for us: He brought us out from slavery to freedom, from
sorrow to joy, from mourning to [celebration of] a festival, from darkness to
great light, and from servitude to redemption. And let us say a new song before
Him, Halleluyah!”
The entire Greene family wishes you and your family a
happy, kosher, and meaningful Passover.
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