In this week's Parshah we read about the infamous Korach. Korach was smart, rich, and powerful. He was also a rebel. Worst than a rebel he was a jealous rebel. His rebellion was nearly successful and G‑d found it necessary to stamp out his rebellion in the most remarkable fashion: Korach and his followers were literally swallowed alive in a sudden earthquake.
Our sages note that Korach was to be the ancestor of the great prophet Shmuel. Korach knew that his progeny Shmuel would be greater in piety and spirit than Moses and Aaron combined. In light of his illustrious progeny Korach thought he was powerful enough to challenge Moses and Aaron. He was convinced that his life would be spared, that he was somehow invincible.
As the story unfolded it became painfully obvious that Korach was wrong. Why did his progeny not stand by him in good stead? Why did the merit not protect him? It is explained that once the merit became the reason for his sin, i.e. the justification for his rebellion, it lost the power to protect him.1
We often find ourselves in similar predicaments. For example, we make a donation to the UJA and then resent the expectation that we continue to support our local Synagogue. We wash the dishes at home and are irritated that we are still expected to take out the trash. We do the shopping for our parents and resent that we are asked to follow up with the laundry. We wonder why our past merits are not enough to save us from future obligations?
Perhaps it is because we have transformed those merits into our reason for avoiding further obligation. When we use one good deed as an excuse to avoid another we deny ourselves credit for the mitzvah good deed as well as the one we performed!
What about abused good will? Interesting concept but I think there are also times when the undeserving see they can take advantage of your good character. When you go do something good with only good intentions and others dump more obligations on you, you may be being abused. I personally had this experience many times. The key to find out if you are about to be sucked into a cycle of being taken advantage of is if the person or people doing the asking bother themselves or not to thank you for each task, and if they would ever do the same for you. You may or may not be able to say no depending on who the people are in relation to you (close relatives for example.) in any case you have to decide what Hashem wants in each instance. Does he want you to humble yourself or if you need to put you efforts elsewhere, where you won't end up feeling dumb and dejected.