We are now in Chapter 143 of tehilim, pasuk ח:
הַשְׁמִיעֵנִי בַבֹּקֶר חַסְדֶּךָ כִּי־בְךָ בָטָחְתִּי הוֹדִיעֵנִי דֶּרֶךְ־זוּ אֵלֵךְ כִּי־אֵלֶיךָ נָשָׂאתִי נַפְשִׁי
Let me hear Your kindness at dawn, for I have relied on You
Let me know the way that I should walk, for to You have I lifted my soul.
Rashi explains, regarding הַשְׁמִיעֵנִי בַבֹּקֶר חַסְדֶּךָ
Let me hear You kindness at dawn, that challenges in life are called Erev/night, and redemptions are called morning.
David HaMelech is saying,
הַשְׁמִיעֵנִי בַבֹּקֶר חַסְדֶּךָ
Please let me hear Your kindness in the morning- which means, “get me out of this dark situation.” Whether it is the individual’s dark situation, or, as the Radak says, it is Galut that’s considered the dark night preceding redemption (which is like the glorious light of dawn), David HaMelech says, I am in the darkness now, let me see the light… at the end of the tunnel, as we say.
“Let me know the way I should walk,” is what David HaMelech saying regarding the enemies that he knows are pursuing him. He is searching for an avenue of escape, and asks Hashem, “ Please reveal to me the safest route for me to take, for I have put my trust in You, And this trust has lifted my spirits.”
David HaMelech knows there is now way out. So he asks Hashem to reveal to him the way to get out of the situation. Many times, as we have challenges ourselves, we have to ask Hashem to get us out of them, and reveal to us the way to do it. That is how the Radak explains the pasuk.
The ending words,
כִּי־אֵלֶיךָ נָשָׂאתִי נַפְשִׁי
I lift up my soul to You is seemingly a term of Mesirut Nefesh/ self sacrifice for the Sake of Hashem.
How does giving up your life to God fit in with Bitachon?
Rabbenu Yonah, in Mishleh
( chapter 3, pasuk 26) discusses this pasuk, and he says that there is a level of Bitachon which he calls,
“Giving yourself up to God,” which means not that you are giving your soul to God, but rather that you rely on Hashem that He will choose the right path for you.
In the words of Rabbenu Yonah,
Mesirat HaNefesh means that you rely on Hashem that He will choose the path, and he quotes this pasuk:
הוֹדִיעֵנִי דֶּרֶךְ־זוּ אֵלֵךְ כִּי
Let me know the way that I should walk
That is what David HaMelech is saying- “I am giving myself up to You, I don’t know the right path.”
This is a hiddush. We usually look at Mesirut Nefesh as dying Al Kiddush Hashem. But you don’t have to die.
You’re giving up your soul to God in the fact that you say, God, You are in charge. I’m giving my soul to you because I know that what you choose for me is best. I accept what you give me, and I understand that even though I might not like it or be comfortable with it, I know that it is good for me. Because, in the words of Rabbenu Yonah,
What God chooses for me is more beneficial than what I want.
This is a level that we might not all be holding by- actually telling Hashem, I don’t know what is good for me right now, Hashem you choose it for me.
Of course, Hashem is not picking a door for us but as we see, the Radak says that we are giving ourselves over to Hashem because we don’t really know the right way to go.
What I think I want might not really be what I want, or what I need. Therefore, I am being Moser Nefesh and asking Hashem to choose the right path for me.
I am relying on You, Hashem to choose the right path.
This could mean choosing the right doctor, the right lawyer, or the right school. We try our best, but we don’t know. So we ask Hashem to please help us, and get us on the right path.
There is a beautiful story about Rav Shach on this concept.
He was in Europe and did not know which way to go to escape the Nazi threat. Should he go deeper into Russia or should he go to Eretz Yisrael? He ended up writing two different telegrams to his wife. One said, “Meet me and we will go to Eretz Yisrael,” and the other one said, “I will meet you on the way to Russia.”
He stood on the line at the post office, still unsure of which telegram he would send, and he prayed to Hashem to help him make the right decision.
As he stood there deep in thought, the postal worker began to lose patience and just grabbed one of the envelopes out of Rav Shach’s hand and sent it.
Rav Shach looked at the remaining letter, and saw that it was the one that said he’d meet his wife in Russia. Knowing that the telegram that was sent to his wife said to meet and go to Eretz Yisrael, that is what Rav Shach did.
That saved his life, and it saved the lives of his wife and children.
That’s what saved the Gadol HaDor that built Torah in Eretz Yisrael.
He gave himself up to Hashem, and Hashem literally chose for him.
Of course, you have to be on the level for that, but that’s what we are striving for, everyone on their level.
Have a wonderful day.