What Do I Do If I Don't Believe?

Detail from a painting by Sarah Kranz

Question:

I don't pray every day. Sometimes I'm not so sure that I believe in G‑d enough to pray. I just don't think I can have the unwavering faith that people like you seem to have. I'll never be so sure. Can you pray and be a good Jew if your faith is unsteady?

Answer:

To be a Jew means to struggle. The very name Israel means "one who struggles with G‑d." Faith is not a light switch that you turn on and it stays on. Faith is a fire that you need to tend to and fuel, and sometimes rekindle. It is a wrestle that never ends.

The name "Israel" means "one who struggles with G‑d." There are days that your faith shines through and everything fits into place. On these days, you feel at one with yourself and G‑d, and prayer comes naturally. Then there are days that you wake up and all is dark, your faith seems to have dried up. G‑d, soul, prayer, goodness--all seem like annoying insects buzzing in your ear, and you just want to just roll over and go back to sleep.

But even on those days, you have to find the motivation to get up and get on with it. Perhaps your faith won't get you out of bed, so how about trying another approach. Putting aside your faith in G‑d, what about G‑d's faith in you?

There is a powerful prayer that we say as soon as we wake up in the morning:

I give thanks to you, Living and Eternal King, for You have returned my soul to me with kindness. How great is Your faith.

The faith referred to here is not our faith in G‑d, but rather "Your faith"--G‑d's faith in us.
If your faith in G‑d doesn't get you out of bed, what about G‑d's faith in you? The very fact that we have woken up is proof that G‑d believes in us. He knows that we are not perfect, is well aware of our failings and knows the mistakes we have made. And yet, in the morning after our sleep, He returns our soul to us and gives us another chance, because He trusts us. He has faith in our ability to change and make today a bit better than yesterday. We may or may not believe in Him, we may or may not believe in ourselves, but G‑d believes in us.

Humans are fickle; G‑d is constant. His faith in us is firm and unchanging, even if our faith in Him is shaky. That's the faith of an Israelite, one who struggles with G‑d. We may be struggling, but we are struggling with G‑d - He is always there.

If you woke up this morning, if your soul was returned to you to see another day, then give thanks. Start your day with a prayer, if not out of your faith in G‑d, then at least out of G‑d's faith in you. He trusts you enough to give you a precious soul. Use it.

By Aron Moss

Rabbi Aron Moss teaches Kabbalah, Talmud and practical Judaism in Sydney, Australia, and is a frequent contributor to Chabad.org.

About the artist: Sarah Kranz has been illustrating magazines, webzines and books (including five children’s books) since graduating from the Istituto Europeo di Design, Milan, in 1996. Her clients have included The New York Times and Money Marketing Magazine of London.

More articles by Aron Moss | RSS

The content on this page is copyrighted by the author, publisher and/or Chabad.org, and is produced by Chabad.org. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with the copyright policy.

E-mail

Sort By:

NewestOldest

February 23, 2012

A question then...

B"H
Is faith the same as belief? If I don't believe in a G-d (as most others understand that word) can I still say that I have faith? It has been my experience that the answer is a big 'Yes'. Ex.; Is the soldier on a battlefield not acting upon faith when he (or she) stands up in the midst of battle, shots of hot lead whizzing by, as he (she) charges forward regardless of fear, and consequence to take on say; an enemy tank, or machine gun nest in order to save the lives of his fellow countrymen. Whether he (or she) believes they will succeed or not, does not come into their mind when making the decision to act. 'Faith' has an element of courage and the bravery to act even without certainty. Of 'Belief'; courage is not a requirement. You do not have to have 'Belief' in order to have Faith. IT IS AS IT IS (Eyeh Asher Eyeh)- Is a name of G-d. All of Reality, including the greater part of it, which is unknown to us. Is 'belief' the same as acceptance of reality? "Use the Force Luke!"

Kolyah
Pasadena, CA

February 20, 2012

G-d has faith in me.

I have to repeat that often, because I surely don't have faith in my self most of the time. Thank you.

Karen Joyce Chaya Fradle Kleinman Bell
Riverside, CA, USA

February 18, 2012

To Victoria

If you mean knowledge as in science, all I have to say is the more I understand science, the closer I feell to understanding my Creator.
Faith? I don't know. It's not a talent one acquires nor a disease one may catch -for lack of better comparison, sorry about that. I think one, all of us, are born with it, knowledge of a Creator.
Perhaps, later in life, after a few disappointments, realizations that fighting our evil inclination is not as easy as we first thought and will go on to the day we die, that free will is a double edged sword, that it will require WORK to grow up, than perhaps something inside gives up, perhaps just out of plain laziness or whatever.
If ones never looses one's sense of wonder - because all the Creator has made IS wonderful - worlds within worlds, infinite, from the macro to the micro universe, it's all wonderful, awe-full, in any direction one looks...
I think one has just to open one's eyes, and there is no need to have "faith." What is that anyway?

Mrs. Beatriz Reis

August 2, 2011

This is the first article from Chabad

I found SO important to my life that I PRINTED IT OUT and put it in my daily journal! Thank you so much. I didn't catch the saying in the prayer until you pointed it out, "G-D's faith in US". Wow. That is deep. Thank you.

Karen Joyce Chaya Fradle Kleinman Bell
Riverside, CA

March 9, 2011

To Susan re: Mother Nature / G-d

I took an Introduction to Bio-Psychology course in college. Professor Colavita often made reference to "Mother Nature" in his lectures. It didn't bother me, and it didn't seem to bother anyone else. I thought that he could have easily said "G-d" or "Our Heavenly Father" instead and it would have meant exactly the same thing. However, I'll bet it would have ruffled a lot of feathers had he made such substitutions. Either way, such language projects an anthropomorphism onto the great reality around us such that we may relate to it more personally.

I'm not so atheistic as OJB, but I am a skeptical Jew. My thoughts about G-d tend to morph between Deism, Pantheism, and of course, Panenthism (which is found in Chassidic philosophy). I often tell people that I have an "agnostic faith." I told Rabbi Altein, that I worship nature, but that I am skeptical of miracles. He made an announcement in shul: "Remember, Folks, there's just one G-d. G-d of Nature, G-d of Miracles; same G-d!"

Rob W.
Pittsburgh, PA / USA

September 7, 2010

Disbelief

I disbelieve in a Noun called G-d. I do have absolute trust in the fact of a Verb known as 'G-d'. When someone practices the mitzvahs of Torah with acts of love toward other people, that action itself is what I view to be G-d. We disbelieve because our minds have become accustomed to the mindsets of the Greco-Roman world. Someone says the word 'G-d' and we instantly think of that painting in the Sistine Chapel of some giant man with a flowing white beard, and lightning in his eyes. Well, sorry folks! That is not my G-d. It never was, and never shall be. That is none other than Zeus, Osiris, or Baal. We are not to worship G-d in that way. He is not a god like that. Theirs are nouns formed from the imaginations of men. G-d is anything but. So I say He is a perpetual verb, which makes Him true and not of me, or my imagination; but simple & plain fact. Wanna 'see' Him? Go do something wonderful for another human being whom you do not know, without them knowing that it was you, UC?

Kolyah
Pasadena, CA

September 5, 2010

dear anon from cocoa beach

Depression.

I understand from your post that you are depressed since your husbands death. And i completely get you. I have experienced depression and it has taken me 3 years to start coming out from its spell. My advice is to keep moving. Find activities to keep you active and busy or the depression gets worse and drags on and on. I tried to find answers in my mind but there weren't any, it's better to just get moving in life and find something meaningful to do. Volunteer maybe. I have recently started doing that, it's not easy but it does help.

rhl

September 5, 2010

My apologies

I was very angry and very upset on Friday when i wrote this post. The anger and upset had been boiling for a while and I was overcome. I can't believe I wrote that. When life goes our way we see G-d everywhere, when life pushes us around for a long time we feel like failures and G-d is nowhere to be found. It's my own pain that was talking, I apologise please forgive me. I know that my understanding of G-d needs work , clearly.
WOW I am so embarressed. On the other hand i think its wonderful that we can express these baddies within us so that we can see them instead of them lurking under the surface within us derailing us in silence

rhl

September 3, 2010

Hate G-d?

Of course, if god exists he's either incompetent, uncaring, or evil (that seems to be what the evidence indicates anyway) so hating him would have some justification.

I don't know whether women "ruling the planet" is likely to result in things being much better. The women who are in positions in power generally seem neither better nor worse than the men!

OJB
Dunedin, NZ

September 2, 2010

i hate G-d

I think life is all about consequences. Sure there may be a G-d but he only shows himself on the big events. The rest of the time he aint interested in your suffering etc etc.

G-d is arrogant and only interested in his plan. G-d was made up by men.

So glad women are finally beginning to rule the planet. Now we will finally start to live instead of life just being about ego, status and power.

rhl

Show all comments