We know that one of the ideas that the Yetzer Hara puts into our minds is, “How can I rely on Hashem if I am not worthy? Or if I’m wicked?”
I use the phrase “the Yetzer Hara puts into our minds” because that’s what the Sefarim say. But they say this is a mistake.
Many of the commentaries explain the basic logic of this: You can’t say that a person can only have Bitachon if he’s worthy.
As the Lev Eliyahu says, if a person thinks that he can only rely on Hashem if he is worthy, he would never have Bitachon, because Sadikim are punished in this world for their sins, even more than Reshaim/ wicked people. There is no such thing as a person that hasn’t sinned. So how can even a Sadik have Bitachon?
Rav Elchonon Wasserman writes that if you don’t believe that you can rely on Hashem regardless of your deeds, you take the whole concept of Bitachon and just cancel it out. So of course it can’t be that way, but how does it work? How does it work that even a Rasha can rely on Hashem? Like the pasuk says, “there are many pains for the wicked, but the one who relies on Hashem is surrounded by kindness.” The Midrash in Tehilim, quoted by the Chafetz Chaim, says that even the Rasha who relies on Hashem is surrounded by kindness.
So what is the logic of this? It has to be that Bitachon works for everyone, because otherwise we wouldn’t be able to have Bitachon. But what’s the system?
Rav Shlomo Kluger explains as follows:
The Gemara in Sanhedrin tells us that even when a Rasha is suffering, the Shechina says, “My head hurts, My arm hurts.”
If that’s the case, he says, we can have Bitachon by saying that Hashem should do it for His own sake, so that He should not have pain.
We believe that Hashem is aware of everything that is happening to us. Even when Hashem is hiding Himself, we know that Hashem is aware of what is going on at all times. Like the pasuk says,
“Those that know Your name rely on You because You never for sake those that are searching ( for) You.”
This means that because we believe that Hashem never forsakes us, and is always aware of what’s going on, (which means He’s in pain when we are in pain), we have a right to rely on Him to fix our problems, in order for Hashem to be relieved from His pain, so to speak.
What a beautiful explanation of the mechanics of Bitachon working even for a wicked person.
Another explanation of the mechanics of Bitachon is from Sefer Ikarim , which says, the pasuk in Tehilim says
יַחֵ֥ל יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אֶל־ה׳ כִּֽי־עִם־יְהוָ֥ה הַחֶ֑סֶד וְהַרְבֵּ֖ה עִמּ֣וֹ פְדֽוּת
The Jewish people should hope to Hashem, for with Hashem there is kindness and He has everlasting redemption.
He gives a beautiful explanation for this:
We should not despair from hoping to Hashem because of our sins, because even if you have a lot of sins, Hashem’s redeeming powers are endless. It is impossible that the power of the sinner to sin is more powerful than the the power of Hashem to forgive. The Sefer Ikarim brings down that this was actually Moshe Rabbenu’s claim to Hashem, so that He should forgive Moshe for his sin. Moshe said, Is my sin so great that you can’t forgive it?
Just like Kayin told Hashem- if my sin is so big that you can’t forgive it, that means that my ability to sin is greater than your ability to forgive, and that’s impossible, because Hashem’s power is never ending. Kayin knew it was impossible, because Hashem is so great. That’s why when Moshe Rabbenu was praying, he said, “I know Your greatness has no end. It’s impossible that my sin is greater than your power to forgive.”
We have to understand these things, because Bitachon is reliance on Hashem, and if we are to rely on Hashem, it has to make sense to us. We can’t think, “How can I rely if I’m not worthy, if I have sins... maybe Hashem wants to punish me.”
We have to put these concepts into our heads.
1- It can’t be that you have to be perfect to rely on Hashem, because otherwise our Bitachon would go down the drain.
2- We rely on Hashem so that Hashem should be relieved from the pain, that He feels when we suffer
3-It can’t be that our ability to sin is greater than Hashem’s ability to forgive.
We have to constantly reiterate these concepts. It says,
אשרי אדם בטח בך
Happy is the man that trusts in You
The midrash points out that it doesn’t say
Happy is Avraham, it says Happy is Adam- all men. Everyone is included.
Similarly, the Gaon of Vilna said to his student Rav Chaim of Volozhin, that on the pasuk, “They will not be found guilty, all those that seek refuge in Him,” that this doesn’t just refer to Eliyahu
( the Gaon of Vilna’s name) or Chaim (referring to his prize student Rav Chaim Volozhiner) it says “All that seek refuge in Hashem..”
Bitachon is not just for Sadikim. It’s for everybody.
Have a wonderful day.