It's interesting to note that most of the pesukei Bitachon come from Tehilim. Very few of them actually come from the Torah. One of them, which we might have discussed in the past, is when Hashem is, so to say, upset at Sarah. After the angels told her she would have a child, Sarah was amazed and she said, “Can I have children?” And Hashem said,
היפלא מה׳ דבר
“Is there anything that's beyond Hashem?”
Is there anything that's covered? Is there anything that's removed? Is there anything that's impossible for Hashem to do? These three words are on the list of Pesukei Bitachon, and it’s a phrase we should add to our lexicon, when the time comes to apply this rule, as we will see.
The Radak adds that it says, it says מה׳ - is there anything that is considered a wonder for Hashem?
But Sarah was 90 years old. So how was she supposed to react?
Of course if she heard it from God, or she heard it from an angel, okay. But the Ramban says that the complaint was that she thought these were regular people telling her the news. But still, when she heard the blessing, she should have said, Amen. Ken Ya’aseh Hashem/Yes, Hashem should do such a thing. It shouldn't have been something impossible in her eyes.
But let’s imagine a lady who never had any children, being pushed in a wheelchair on Ocean Park by an aide, with a blanket on top of her. And someone says to her, “Next year, we should see you at your son's Brit Milah.”
Would she say, Amen?! Or You’re out of your mind!!
She should say Amen!! Hashem can do anything. That is Ramban’s approach.
The Brisker Rav has a slightly different approach. He says, yes, an angel told her, God told her. And of course, she believed it was going to happen, but that it would happen to her was a wonder. “Is this body going to be able to have a child? Will I ever be able to nurse? As if it was something that's extraordinary -and the Brisker Rav says that we're supposed to understand that for Hashem there is no extraordinary. This is similar to the famous story with Rav Hanina ben Dosa. When his daughter ran out of oil and she only had vinegar, he said, “The One that says that oil should light will say that vinegar should light.” It wasn't a miracle; it wasn't extraordinary. There's no difference to God whether it's oil or vinegar. And there's no difference to God whether a lady is 18 years old or 80 years old. A baby is a wonder. At 18 years old, the splitting of cells, developing of the heart and kidneys and organs, it's all a wonder of wonders. A baby is a wonder of wonders at 18, and the same wonder of wonders at 80. There's no difference for Hashem. The Midrash, on the story of Sarah, gives a mashal of a man that brings a broken vessel to the potter and says, “Can you fix this?”
The potter says, “I made it. You don't think I could fix it?!”
It’s the same thing. Hashem says, “I made you, you don't think I could fix you? It's all the same to Me.” That's the attitude that we have to have. Rav Haskel Levenstein says it’s not necessarily that we are worthy of open miracles. So yes, when you have a person who has a tremendous challenge, he might not be worthy of open miracles, but he has to be able to have this pasuk in the back of his mind, היפלא מה׳ דבר /There's nothing stopping God from doing this.
He can get a pardon and get someone out of jail. He can have a new medicine be created and developed and save someone who’s deathly ill. He could do anything at the last moment.
Am I worthy of it? That's a different question. Is my Bitachon level up to par? That's another question. Put all of that on the side. The fundamental approach has to be היפלא ה׳ דבר Is there anything that's impossible for God to do? What's the difference? What does it take to keep a heart beating? And if a heart stops, is it any different to get it started again?
Rav Haskel says, we say “Creation is constantly being renewed.”
So if God can create a whole world today, He can't take care of a problem? Do we know what God does? Do we know what His abilities are? They're unfathomable.
Hayipaleh M’Hashem Davar?
Is anything impossible for Hashem?
That has to be the attitude in all situations. And that's what we learned from Sarah Imenu. Sarah lived before the Torah was given, so nobody, so to say, taught her this lesson. Of course she believed. We're not here to judge Sarah. The point is to learn this lesson for ourselves. Hayipaleh M’Hashem Davar?
Is anything impossible for Hashem?
Have a wonderful day.