Today's Tanya mentions a Zohar on parshath Terumah (the Torah portion 2 weeks from now) which states that God's greatest joy is derived from a simple person fending off his evil urges. It explains that when we drive off an inappropriate desire because it is against God's will, our little action down here is greatly magnified in the heavens and the dark side is cast down out of heaven entirely, allowing God's glory to rise to the heights of heaven undeterred.
This should be a source of tremendous joy for a person. No matter where they are on the global scale of their potential status, by driving away a single forebidden thought, they are restoring the glory of God's kingship to the world, and from this God (as it were) derives great joy.
Of course there are theological pitfalls in taking the implications of this teaching too far in the wrong direction. Remember that God is unchanged by all the happenings in this world, so 'God derives joy' is a concept that has no simple explanation. In addition one must note that the only reason the dark side has any power at all is because it receives this power from God, as the dark side is a created entity not unlike ourselves. This too, on some level, can be seen as a sort of charade, but let's not go there, it's all too complicated for me. God willing, one day I'll reach a sufficient level of understanding that I will be able to relate not only new ideas, but the patently true as well.
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