We are studying chapter 115 of tehilim, pasuk יא
יִרְאֵי ה׳ בִּטְחוּ בַה׳ עֶזְרָם וּמָגִנָּם הוּא
Those that fear God rely on God
He is your help and your savior
Rav Chaim Pilaggi, in his sefer Hakatuv LChaim, has a very innovative explanation for this.
There is a pasuk in Yeshaya that says, “Who is amongst you that fears God?”
God is asking that question, and the rest of the pasuk says,
“…that listens to the voice of your servant, goes in darkness, and has no light? Rely on God and lean on God.”
The Midrash Shochatov (siman לא) says on that pasuk that God walks into shuls and hears the Jewish people saying “Please redeem us,” and God says, “Do you have anyone that fears God amongst you?” to which the Jewish people reply,”Sorry, we don’t. We are going in the dark..”
When that happens, we think, “Now what? We’re in trouble. What are we going to do?”
And God answers, “Rely on Me. If you rely on Me, then even though you don’t yet have the level of Yirah/fear, that reliance will bring the Geula.”
This is an important lesson brought down by many Rishonim.
There is a strong link between Bitachon/relying on Hashem and fearing God.
Being called a Yireh Shamayim/fear of God, is a very high level. The person is afraid of sin, and realizes that God is watching at all times, like in the famous story of the Chafetz Chaim. He was once with a less than honest wagon driver who wanted to let his horse eat from someone else’s field, so he asked the Chafetz Chaim to let him know if anyone was watching. As the horse was about to take a bite, the Chafetz Chaim called out, “Someone’s watching!” So the wagon driver moved his horse to another area, and again the Chafetz Chaim called out that someone was watching. When this happened a few times, the wagon driver began to doubt whether someone was really watching in all three places. And the Chafetz Chaim told him it was God watching.
That’s how the Chafetz Chaim lived his life. That’s Yirat Hashem. We aren’t on that level. But when we are in trouble, or when we have a challenge, and we rely on God, we are really flexing those same Yirat Shamayim muscles, thinking “God help me. I know You’re here. I know You can take care of me.”
Sometimes it’s easier to flex those muscles when we’re in trouble. Like the famous war-time saying goes, “There is no atheist in a foxhole.” When the bullets are coming, everyone is a believer.
The Bitachon that a person exercises in bringing God into his life will eventually bring him to Yirat shamayim-fear of God and fear of sin.
So while this pasuk simply translates as
יִרְאֵי ה׳ בִּטְחוּ בַה׳ עֶזְרָם וּמָגִנָּם הוּא
Those that fear God rely on God
He is your help and your savior
Rav Chaim Pilaggi’s innovative explanation is that If you want to become a God fearing person, the way to do that is by relying on God.
By relying on Him, you are bringing God into your life.
We see this happen. Many people, through working on their Emunah and Bitachon, become more outwardly religious. How does that happen? Because they are, in truth, exercising their bitachon muscles, which in turn helps strengthen their Yirat Shamayim at the same time.
This is the beautiful point of Rav Chaim Pilaggi.
Have a wonderful day.