Isaac said to his son, “How did you succeed so quickly, my son?” (Bereishis 27:20)

Rav Meir Shapiro once described to a wealthy man the number of hours that the boys were learning in his Yeshiva, yet the wealthy man was unimpressed. Rav Shapiro responded, “Though you may work in your office for more hours than the boys are learning, the reason why is because when you are not working, undoubtedly you will be serving Hashem. Thus, the Yetzer Hara sends business your way in order that you should not spend time performing Torah, Avoda and Gemilus chasadim.”

There is a similar story said about the Chofetz Chaim in which he told a storekeeper, “If you would like business to perk up, you should say Tehillim when there are no customers. Then the yetzer hara will send you customers to prevent you from saying tehillim!”

I would like to share a personal story about a friend of mine who is an unusually great masmid: One Motza’ei Yom Kippur he asked me to help him find a lulav and esrog, as he was leaving to America in 90 minutes! “It can’t happen,” I told him. “You need more than 90 minutes in order to successfully find the type of lulav and esrog that you want.” In my mind I was thinking of the Chazal, “Only someone who is busies himself on erev Shabbos with preparations, will merit to have what he needs on Shabbos.” I felt likewise that this fellow, though he is a great masmid, was not going to have a lulav and esrog chosen before his departure. To my surprise and delight, within 30 minutes we had purchased everything that he needed! Without even showing any outward excitement, he ran back into the Beis Medrash to learn until his taxi came to take him to the airport. I recall pondering on how Hashem loves great tzaddikim.

The Chasam Sofer discusses a similar situation, which appears in this week’s parsha. Yitzchak was surprised that Yaakov (in the guise of Eisav) was back so soon with the meal prepared. The Chasam Sofer explains that when a tzaddik is involved in a mitzvah, Hashem can lengthen the process in order to give him more reward for each action done. An example of this is that it took Avraham three full days to get to Mount Moriah for the Akeida. (Conversely, it took Eliezer less than a day to travel to Aram Naharayim.) However, if bitul torah is involved, the mitzvah of learning torah is greater than performing other mitzvos, therefore Hashem will expedite matters so that the righteous one will quickly return to the Beis Medrash. This is the meaning of Yitzchak’s surprise and delight when he said, “Hakol Kol Yaakov”, as it was obvious to him that if Eisav came back so quickly it meant that Eisav was diligent in Torah study and Hashem wanted him to quickly return to the Beis Medrash. As Eisav was also a proficient hunter, Yitzchok saw him as a true embodiment of greatness.

We often find ourselves frustrated as we try to do something good and it just does not happen. I believe the words of the Chasam Sofer can give us comfort. If we are trying to do something good and it seems to take a long time, do not fret! For we will get reward for each and every action that we do to perform a mitzvah.

But if that is not sufficient consolation for the difficulty in performing a mitzvah, there is still an easy way for you to ensure things run smoothly: Throw yourself into Torah study 24/7 and things will quickly work themselves out!