Life’s speed-breakers are meant to be faith-builders, not faith-breakers

People often ask: “There’s so much suffering in the world. Does God actually care?”

Yes, God cares – and cares more than we can comprehend.

If a ride along a road is jerky, we may blame the government as uncaring. But if the jerks are caused by speed-breakers designed for safety, then their presence points to a caring government – caring in ways we can’t comprehend if we don’t see the big picture.

Similarly, when we evaluate the world based only on whether it provides us material pleasure, we can’t comprehend the purpose of worldly miseries – to prompt our spiritual growth.

Spiritual growth essentially means growing in our understanding of the best object of love. We are souls who long for everlasting happiness. As everything material is temporary, nothing material can satisfy that longing – only the eternal Supreme Being, Krishna, can.

The inevitable material miseries that come our way during the ride of life are meant to serve as speed-breakers – to slow down our high-speed pursuit of worldly things and to recognize the futility of our infatuation with those things. Unfortunately however, we don’t strive to understand the bigger picture, and the speed-breakers end up becoming faith-breakers – we start questioning, even rejecting, God and his love.

But the speed-breakers can become faith-builders if we expand our picture of life using scriptural wisdom. The Bhagavad-gita (08.07) urges us to balance our life by remembering Krishna while doing our worldly duties. This devotional balance minimizes the jolts we suffer when material things go wrong. More importantly, it gives us glimpses of spiritual happiness through our meditational connection with Krishna. The more we relish and cherish these glimpses, the more our faith increases. And the glimpses become sweeter and longer as our devotion increases till finally our longing for happiness becomes permanently and perfectly fulfilled.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 08 Text 07

"Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the form of Krishna and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt."