Today we will study perek לב pasuk י
Another favorite pasuk-
רַבִּ֥ים מַכְאוֹבִ֗ים לָ֫רָשָׁ֥ע
There are many pains for the wicked man,
וְהַבּוֹטֵ֥חַ בַּֽה׳ חֶ֝֗סֶד יְסוֹבְבֶֽנו
but the one that relies on Hashem is surrounded by Hashem’s kindness.
Simply speaking, these are merely two halves of the pasuk, contrasting the wicked man that suffers, with the one who relies.
But there is a beautiful Midrash that says that the reason the rasha/ wicked person suffers is because he doesn’t rely on Hashem. However, the man who does rely on Hashem will be surrounded by kindness- even the rasha, if relies on Hashem, will be surrounded by kindness.
This means that there is no contradiction between one’s bitachon and his merits. As we have stated in the past, the Chafetz Chaim says that this applies as long as a person is not a rebel against Hashem.
He may be a regular person who tries his best but sometimes stumbles. When the Yetzer Hara overcomes him, he tries to do Teshuva…. This type of person is still in the game, so to say. He can rely on Hashem.
Hashem is our loving father, He understands that we make mistakes. We can rely on Him and our (lack of) merits aren’t a contradiction. As long as we are able to rely.
In the olden days, there were people who worried about their sins. They understood what sins are. But we are at the stage where we don’t seem to care that our sins might interfere. We don’t understand how terrible sins are, so luckily, we are able to rely on Hashem even though we have sinned.
We are like a boy who ruins his father’ $30,000 watch by dropping it in the sink, and then asks his father for a candy, because he doesn’t realize how much money the watch was worth.
He relies on his father, and his father gives to him. That’s the situation we are in.
That is one explanation of our pasuk
רַבִּ֥ים מַכְאוֹבִ֗ים לָ֫רָשָׁ֥ע
וְהַבּוֹטֵ֥חַ בַּֽה׳ חֶ֝֗סֶד יְסוֹבְבֶֽנו
Do not think that your lack of merits will interfere with your Bitachon.
The Chafetz Chaim gives another explanation for this pasuk. When a person is sick, he has to take medicine. Quite often, the medicine has a very bitter flavor. So the pharmaceutical companies came up with the idea to coat the medicine, so that it tastes sweet. Or, like my mother used to do, she would crush up a pill and put it into a spoon of applesauce, in order to take away the tinge of bitterness. So too, we can coat bitterness with something sweet.
The Chafetz Chaim says that sometimes the rasha has to suffer.
When we say that if the rasha relies on Hashem, he gets what he wants, that does not mean that all of his sins are automatically forgiven, or that he doesn’t have to deal with his sins. If he has sins, he has to get punished. Even when a person does teshuva, sometimes he has to have Yisurim/suffering.
So the rasha, that needs to suffer, Lo alenu, breaks his leg. But, because he has Bitachon, he will be surrounded with Hashem‘s kindness throughout the ordeal, and therefore, that broken leg will not hurt as much. He will have the best doctor, get the best cast… he will be relying on Hashem so he will say it is kapara, and it will cause him less mental and emotional anguish.
So the person who has bitachon ends up with not a sugar-coat, but a Hessed-coat.
Hashem’s justice is Hessed-coated. This special Hessed-coating comes from Bitachon.
There are two different tracks for a person who has sinned (and as we have all sins, this is important for us):
Track 1- A person does something wrong, such as oversleeping and missing shul
(this doesn’t make a person a rasha- we are just using it as an example), but still hopes to Hashem to find a parking spot at his office.
Yes, he should have gone to shul. No, he didn’t do what he was supposed to do, but he feels bad about it. And he is going to rely on Hashem anyway.
Track 2- A person does something wrong, such as insulting someone and making him feel terrible. Then, as he gets out of his car, he trips on the curb and bruises himself.
That was Midat HaDin/Hashem’s justice.
But he realizes that he got punished for hurting someone’s feelings, and relies on Hashem.
Then, luckily, a Hatzolah volunteer is standing right there, and is able to roll up his pants, treat his wound and wrap his knee. The man is able to go right into work and have his zoom meeting, and it doesn’t matter that his pants are torn. He is good to go.
Because he relied on Hashem, Hashem enveloped the justice in kindness. Because of his Bitachon, there was kindness surrounding his difficult situation of justice.
These are beautiful thoughts and themes of this pasuk.
רַבִּ֥ים מַכְאוֹבִ֗ים לָ֫רָשָׁ֥ע
There are many pains for the wicked man,
וְהַבּוֹטֵ֥חַ בַּֽה׳ חֶ֝֗סֶד יְסוֹבְבֶֽנו
but the one that relies on Hashem is surrounded by Hashem’s kindness.
Have a wonderful day.