Behold The Beautiful Lord our God
Behold The Beautiful Lord our God
And so, when He asks things of us, shouldn't we simply say, "Yes, Lord"?
The Prophetic literature documents a most wonderous conversation between the Lord and the last person to enter Paradise. It is one of my favorite - if not my favorite - Prophetic sayings (collection of Bukhari, number 806).
After everyone has been judged, there will be one last person to be taken out of Hell. His face will be turned towards its gate. And so, he says to God:
“Please God, let me face elsewhere! Its heat has dried me and its wind has burnt me!”
God will say: “If you are granted this wish, will you ask for anything else?”
He will cry: “No!! I swear by your Greatness I will not!”
He will insist that he won’t ask for anything else, and so his face will be directed away from the Fire and towards Paradise. He will see its beauty…but [remembering his promise] will remain silent. He will stay silent for a long, long, time, then eventually [unable to bear any longer] will cry:
“Please Lord, please bring me forward…just to the Gate of Paradise!!”
God will say: “Didn’t you promise that you wouldn’t ask for anything else?”
The man will cry: “But Lord, please don’t make me the most miserable of your creation!”
God will say: “If I grant you your wish, will you ask for anything else?”
He will cry: “I won’t!!! I promise, I swear by you Greatness I will not!” And he will continue to promise and pledge not to ask for anything else, until he is brought to the Gate of Paradise.
When he reaches it, he will look inside and see its vigor, charm and pleasure…but [remembering his promise] will remain silent. He will stay silent for a long, long time, then eventually [unable to bear any longer] will cry:
“O Lord… please… please let me enter Paradise!!”
God will say: '“You’re unbelievable! How treacherous can you get Son of Adam?! Didn’t you make all those promises and pledges not to ask for anything else?”
The man will cry: “But Lord, please don’t make me the most miserable of your creation!”
So the Lord our God, the exalted, will Laugh, and allow the man to enter Paradise. Then God will tell him, “Make a wish!”
And the man will keep on wishing and wishing and asking for so many things until he can’t find anything else to ask for. Then God will help him out and remind him saying,
“How about this… and how about that?”
And then, when the man is completely satisfied, God will say, “All your wishes will be granted…and multiplied ten times over!”
In another version of this story, the man will say, “Are You making fun of me, and You are the Lord of the Worlds?”
God will smile and say, “I am not making fun of you, but I have the Power to do whatever I want.”
Every time I read this saying, I am overwhelmed by the sheer unfathomable Love and Mercy of the Lord our God. It is a Mercy which that is not often taught, sadly, by many from the pulpit. In fact, when I recounted this saying to a family member, he was skeptical that God would laugh, but that is exactly what He will do, because that is how Beautiful He really is.
And so, given this unimaginable Mercy for the absolute last person to enter Paradise, does it not behoove us to simply say “Yes, O Lord,” when God asks us to do something? Does it not behoove us to avoid those (relatively few) things which God asked us to avoid? Does it not behoove us to try - to the best of our ability - live a life of righteousness and put God’s wants above ours?
Given the fact that God is so Generous that He will give the last person to enter Paradise, someone who presumably had very little righteousness in his life, ten times all of his desires, isn’t the return on the investment of a little restraint in this world worth it?
To me, the answer is a resounding, “Yes, O Lord. Yes.”