Avos 2:3: Wanting and giving up

He would also say: Make His will your will, so that He should make your will  as His will. Nullify your will before His will, so that He should nullify the will of others before your will.

This is a very confusing Mishna. First, what is the difference between the first and second part, between doing His will instead of your will and nullifying your will before His will. Secondly, the two parts of the Mishna are not symmetrical; In the first, the Mishna promises the if you do His will, he will do your will. In the second, it promises that if you nullify your will, He will not nullify His will, but nullify the will of others before yours (Tiferes Yisroel does understand that hullifying your will lead to G-d nullifying His will in your favor, but the Mishna expressed it euphemistically out of respect for the Almighty).

I never really "got" this Mishna until if realized that there is a very simple and basic difference between tis two parts. In the first, your will and His will are not in conflict. Say, you want to have grilled chicken for supper. He wants that the Glory of His kingdom be sanctified. If you take His will as paramount and learn Torah and perform Mitzvos, and try to do what He wants, He will bring about that your will be done and that you do get grilled chicken for supper I If you think that wanting grilled chicken for supper is beyond His concern, see Kesuvos 67b .

The second part of the Mishna is talking about a different case, where His will and your will contradict. He wants that you should go daven and your want to stay in bed. In that situation, man must nullify his will. Hashem cannot then reciprocate and hullify His will before yours, for your will no longer exists. You are already at that minyan. But  what He can and will do is to nullify the desires of others before your will in other matters or even in this matter itself.

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Comments

[tera gold]

"Make His will your will, so that He should make your will as His will. Nullify your will before His will, so that He should nullify the will of others before your will."oh,my god,it is hard to understand.