We See in this weeks parsha that yaakov and Esav meet. But before this big meeting Yaakov does three things to help appease Esav. He Davens, He sends Gifts and then He prepares for war.
Why did he not JUST daven… or why not JUST prepare for war, and is the order important?
Yes the order is important so we’ll answer the first part of our question first.
I’ll tell you a joke/story… a jew goes into shul one shabbos when that week the jackpot for the lottery is 60million, He davens his heart out “Hashem please help me win the lottery i need that money so much…” anyway that motzei shabbos he watches the draw and doesn’t win! A few weeks later there is another huge Jackpot and he does the same “Hashem please help me win i’m mamesh skint please Hashem..” again he watches the lottery draw and then he sees he’s not won. This happens afew more times until one day he goes into shul and says “Hashem please i asked you nicely why didn’t you let me win??”
Hashem answers him “you should have brought yourself a ticket!!!!”
We can learn from this the answer to the first part of the question. We need to ask Hashem’s help in hard times but we also need to help ourselves. We need to buy the lottery ticket and Daven to Hashem in order to win!!
Also to answer the second half of the question the answer is yes!! There is a gemara that says you should Daven for thing before they even happen!! But not only that also we should daven before doing our own bit because Hashem is the be all and end all and if He wants then He will do.
Always remember that for our prayers to be answered we must help ourselves and buy that lottery ticket
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