We continue discussing the pasuk from Shemuel א, perek יד pasuk ו,
אֵין לה׳ מַעְצוֹר לְהוֹשִׁיעַ בְּרַב אוֹ בִמְעָט
“There is nothing holding God back to save, with a lot of a little.”
The Hovot HaLevavot quotes this pasuk in more than one place in Shaar Bitachon.
In Chapter Three, he says that a person should never think that his parnasa/sustenance is set through a certain siba/cause, and if he doesn’t have that cause, he shouldn’t think the parnasa can’t come through a different cause.
That would be a mistake.
Rather, “Rely on Hashem and know that all all causes are equal by God.” That means God can make a person get his sustenance in the craziest of ways.
In his words, “He will sustain him with what He wants to give, at the time that He wants to give and with whatever concept that He wants.” And then he quotes our pasuk,
אֵין לה׳ מַעְצוֹר לְהוֹשִׁיעַ בְּרַב אוֹ בִמְעָט
Nothing holds Hashem back from saving…
One of the major theses of the Hovot HaLevavot is that a siba is just an intermediary, something necessary to cause the wheels to turn. But any small item can be the trigger.
He says people make a mistake when they praise the cause- whether it’s a license or a connection or anything that the person thought it was his provider.
If a buyer changes his mind, people worry and get thrown into a tizzy.
But they have to regroup and realize that the buyer is just a siba/cause.
God has an arsenal of causes.
He compares this to a man in the desert who is very thirsty.
He find waters that aren’t very sweet. But he gets excited, drinks the water and quenches his thirst. Then he goes a little further and finds sweeter waters. He feels troubled that he didn’t save his thirst for the sweeter waters.
The point, says the Hovot HaLevavot, is that a person hs to know that God has endless ways to get things to people. If you don’t get it one way, you will get it another way. And maybe the second way is even sweeter than the first. So when you cry over the loss of number one, you might not realize that cause number two might be even better and sweeter.
Because, אֵין לה׳ מַעְצוֹר לְהוֹשִׁיעַ בְּרַב אוֹ בִמְעָט
Nothing holds Hashem back from saving…
whether a little or a lot.
This is a fundamental that the Hovot HaLevavot develops for a long while.
B’ezrat Hashem, we will come back to it tomorrow.