Welcome to the Daily Chizuk (strengthening). The Pasuk (verse) says, “Someone who trusts and depends on Hashem will be surrounded by kindness. Fortunate is the man who depends on Hashem for help.” Chazal (the Sages) tell us that even if a person is not worthy, if he looks to Hashem for help, he will be helped. How does it work?
The Chafetz Chaim, in this week's parasha, brings the Pasuk in the story of Lot. The men of Sodom converged upon him, demanding that the guests be sent out. And Lot said back. And the Chafetz Chaim explains that he was telling them, “They are depending on me. I can't let anything happen to them.” Even though Lot wasn't the biggest tzaddik (righteous person), he still understood that when someone is depending on you and looking to you for protection, you have to come through for them.
Rabbi Ephraim Waxman explained that there is an element in human nature whereby, when you are depending on a person, he is going to want to help you, even if you are not worthy. Imagine an employer was thinking about firing one of his workers, and the employer overhears the worker saying, “My boss, he is so good to me. I owe everything I have to him. He looks after me. He worries about me. He worries about my family.” The employer is going to have a change of heart, knowing that he is being depended upon. If you tell someone, “You are the only one who can help,” that person will feel a certain sense of responsibility: “If I'm the only one, I have to help.” Says the Chafetz Chaim, “If that's the way people respond when they are being relied upon, how much more so will Hashem take care of us when we totally rely on Him?”
David HaMelech said, “Hashem, in you I trusted, therefore I will not be shamed.” And the Midrash (rabbinic teaching) gives a parable to explain. There was once a man sleeping outside the palace of the king, and the guards found him and started beating him. He said, “Leave me alone. I'm a member of the king's household.” The next morning, they brought him to the king, and the king said, “Do I know you?” He said, “No, but I knew that if I said, ‘I'm with you,’ you would have compassion and save me.” And the king said back, “Since you trusted in me, I won't let you be harmed.” So too, when we trust in Hashem, He will not allow us to fall.
So how do we trust in Hashem? The more we recognize the extent of Hashem's control, Hashem's abilities, and Hashem's love for us, we will naturally want to turn to Him for help. Nobody else matters anyway. We have to say, “Hashem, I know you are the only one who could really help.” And no matter what the situation is, the Pasuk says, “Is anything too great for Hashem?” When we realize that we are always in Hashem's hands, we'll feel more comfortable; we'll feel more at ease.
One of my relatives once gave me a Mashal (parable). She said she was driving somewhere using her navigation system, and she was in an area where she thought she knew the roads pretty well. She kept asking, “Why is it telling me to turn here? Shouldn't I be going straight?” She was getting very nervous from it. But the second she got to an area that she knew nothing about, she felt so comfortable using the system. That's how it is in life. When we think we know, we think we're doing, we think we're in charge, we get nervous. But when we recognize that Hashem is in charge, Hashem is leading me, then we'll feel more at ease. And when we recognize that Hashem is in charge, we'll rely on Him more. And when we rely on Him, He'll never let us down. Shabbat Shalom.