The rosha, too, will see the Yetzer Hora as the challenges he has encountered. But his challenges were smaller. Chazal tell us that ein Hakadosh Baruch Hu bo b’trunyo—Hashem does not challenge a person with something he cannot handle. The rosha was never challenged beyond his ability. Although he may have faced tests that seemed mighty at the time, in the Olam HaEmes he will be forced to recognize that his trials were not difficult at all. They were merely a thin strand of challenge.

He may remember the time his elderly mother asked him to help her cross the street.

“ I can’t do it,” he might have thought at the time. “How can I be seen crossing her? It’s so embarrassing.” Or, perhaps he thought that the time was inconvenient. Or that his mother was taking advantage of him. Whatever his excuse, it seemed perfectly valid at the time. But in the World of Truth, excuses will fade, and he will be forced to face the painful truth—that he could have conquered his Yetzer Hora.

He will understand for the first time that all of his trials could have been so easily overcome—it would have been as simple as stepping over his miniscule Yetzer Hora. He will weep in remorse, but it will be too late. All he will be able to do then is cry for the battle lost forever.

Such is life. No matter how difficult the situation, how insurmountable the odds, we do have the power to overcome life’s challenges. The nisyonos that are sent our way are for our benefit. They spur us on to greater faith, and to greater depth of character and soul.

Nisyonos—the impetus for personal growth

We ask Hashem each morning that we not be brought to nisayon—that we not be enticed to sin. But we were put in this world primarily to overcome nisyonos. Nisyonos allow us to grow, to become better people. Why, then, do we ask to be spared from challenge?

The Michtav M’Eliyahu answers that we simply ask that we not be tested severely. We ask that we be presented only with nisyonos that are not difficult to overcome. Overcoming nisyonos can be hard and demanding. In fact, the word nisayon stems from the word nes—miracle. The fact that we can and do overcome these challenges is miraculous. But Hashem provides the strength, we invest the effort, and with His help, we reap the rewards of success forever.

Still, we need to be constantly on guard for new nisyonos, and recognize them as such, for they confront us at every turn in life. They arise in business. They arise at home. And often, one does not even realize that he has been tested.

There are the big tests—the man who must choose between mincha and a multi-million dollar business deal, the patient who tries to find faith at the door to the operating room, the widow who must come to grips with her loss.

And there are the daily tests—the mother who needs to control her anger in the face of chaos, the desire to slide into a parking spot before someone else, the less-than-kosher garment or forms of entertainment.

We pray that we be spared the big tests of life. And we ask that we be granted the strength to overcome even the smaller ones. Because they, too, are part of the Divine Plan, and it is the smaller, less-obvious challenges, that prepare us for the mountainous ones.