Suffering Part 5

There is a Biblical verse "He whom the L-rd loves, he chastises" (Proverbs 3:12). This would seem to be counter intuitive. But think a moment. When we see a street gang getting into trouble, we grit our teeth. If OUR child gets into trouble, we are devastated. We rebuke. We discipline. We try to get help for him or her. Why? Because we care more for our child than for  a stranger. It may hurt us to make our child unhappy with correction or even punishment, but we realize that this is for the child's own well being, not because of hate or resentment. Someone once told me, that when his little boy misbehaved, he would tell him "I'm supposed to punish you now. But now I'm angry, and would be punishing you out of anger, not out of love. Go to your room for ten minutes, so I can calm down, and punish you out of love". Ten minutes later, the child would come out of his room. He would say to the child :You've had a chance to think about it now. Do I still need to punish you?" The child would say that he'd learned his lesson. The father would hug and kiss him, and that would be the end of the incident.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, wrote in his classic work "Tanya", that chastisement and suffering come from a higher level of Divine Love than kindness that is perceived. Nevertheless, we pray that G-d deal with us in a kindness "which is revealed and perceived, down here, below ten hand breadths" (an expression for THIS, rather than the HEAVENLY reality). In the Talmud, Rabbi Choni Hame'agel (there is an entire story about him. I hope to speak about him another time) was known for his ability to pray for rain. When he prayed, a few drops would come down. "L-rd, I didn't mean like that. We need enough to fill the wells and cisterns!" It would begin to pour! "L-rd, you children can handle neither too much bad, not too much good". Then it rained in a way of blessing. Suffering can be a good thing, a medicine, but we cannot handle an overdose! Nevertheless, there is a time when bitter medicaments  are needed and desirable.
Recently, I wrote privately to one of our members as follows: Little children often have imaginary friends. When the child is happy, so is the imaginary friend. The same when the child is sad, or angry. If Mom or Dad has scolded the child, the imaginary friend understands totally why the child was right and the parent wrong. Many of us see G-d as our ideal imaginary friend. He must do as I want; rewarding our deeds, forgiving our misdeeds, and NEVER punishing. But G-d is the Master of the Universe, not our imaginary friend. He doesn't need to follow our agenda, we need to follow His.
In my next post, I will deal with the difficult question if G-d suffers, and, if so, how is this connected with our suffering? May we only experience joy and blessing!