There's a famous concept in bitachon called Gam Zu Tova/ This too is also for the good. It's based on the story of Nachum Ish Gamzu, found in Taanit 21A, where every step of the way, he says Gam Zu L’ Tova. He was well known for miracles, which is why the Jewish community chose him to be their emissary, and sent him to to the king with a box full of jewels.
On his way, he stopped at an inn where the innkeeper switched the jewels for dirt. So when he got the king, they opened his box, saw the dirt and wanted to take his head off. But he just kept on saying , “Gam Zu L’Tova/This is also for the good.”
In the end, God sent an angel that said, “Maybe this is from the dirt that Avraham Avinu used in his war against the kings- that dirt turned into arrows.”
So they tried it and it worked. And they sent him back with even more jewels than he originally came with.
Simply, Gam Zu L’Tova might sound like an afterthought, as in, It looks like it's bad but somehow it must be good. I just don't understand God's ways.
But the Maharal says that's not what it means. In his words, “Gam Zu L’Tova means ‘This looks like a punishment (it looks terrible), but through relying on God, it’s going to become good.”
That's a hiddush. It's not good now, but your bitachon is going to make it good. God can take something that looks totally evil and turn it into absolute good. In his words, It may look like it's absolute evil but He can make it into totally good, because God is capable of doing anything. And that's the power of Bitachon.
This is very important, because people hear this quote and think, “How could this be good?!”
It's not good.
But with the power of your bitachon, God can turn it around and make it good. That dirt was not good dirt. That dirt was a death sentence. But because Nachum Ish Gamzu said Gam Zu L’Tova, God sent an angel that looked like one of the king's ministers (who was absent that day) to suggest the wild idea that it was the magical dirt of Avraham Avinu. And with that, it turned around into something even greater.
And that, he explains is the meaning of the pasuk
בטחו בו עדי עד
Bitchu Bo Adeh Ad/Rely on Hashem forever.
What's the term Forever?
Even in a situation that seems extremely bleak. When, in his words, people have already lost hope, don't despair. Rely on Hashem that He can save you. That is the tremendous force of Bitachon. How does it work? He says there’s an upper world called Olam HaElyon, an upper world that's all good. When someone relies on Hashem, his reliance reaches that upper world that’s all good.
And that's what it means, “One who relies on God, he is surrounded by kindness.” Because he hits that world called Olam HaElyon.
He hits the world where everything is good. And if you connect to that world, where everything is good, He can take the most evil things and turn them into good.
This is something that we should all contemplate, because sometimes we look at a situation, and we say, “This is situation is truly impossible. There's no way out of it.” And we feel like we're in a situation of despair. But we have to realize that we are in the Olam HaTachton/We're in the lower world. In the lower world, we don't see the Yeshua, and we don't realize that there's some place called the Olam HaElyon/the upper world, that we can tap into through our Bitachon, that will bring down kindness from that upper world. That's what Nachum Ish Gam Zu did. He connected to the Olam HaElyon and brought it down.
Have a great day.