This struggle is the fertile soil that our “true” selves will grow out of. And through it, we learn how to give our hearts over to Hashem. And for this, it was all worth it in the end. For what did we come down to the world for, if not to learn how to give Hashem our hearts? As the Pasuk says: "Ten b’ni libcha li” – “my son, give me your heart." Through this struggle, we learn how to “Let go and let G-d,” and how to surrender our will and our lives over to Hashem in a very deep way. And this is something most people never merit to learn, even in 100 years on this world. So, in a deeper sense, this struggle is truly a gift from Hashem and a sign of His love for us - if we only use it correctly!
No matter how much we have fallen, we must never view ourselves as “despised” by Hashem, or imagine that Hashem is annoyed and frustrated with us. Instead, as we learn to give over the addiction to Hashem and trust in Him to take it away from us more and more, we will begin to feel that Hashem is truly our closest and most eternal friend.
As we progress and mature, we begin to view our relationship with Hashem on a much more intimate level. We begin to perceive how the lust is trying to get in between “us and Hashem” and interfere with the greatest love that can possibly exist!
To learn how to redirect our love to Hashem through this struggle, here is one helpful approach: Whenever our hearts are pulled to these desires, we need to tell ourselves, "If this is truly so good and I desire it so much, how much more desirable it must be to connect with Hashem Who is the Infinite Source of all beauty, goodness and pleasure!” When we successfully do this, we uplift the greatest physical desires and turn them into the greatest love for Hashem! This is a very high level of Divine service, analogous to when Yaakov Avinu met his son Yosef after 22 years and, as Chazal tells us, he turned his love to Hashem by saying Kriyas Shema.
