Today we will study perek 56 of Tehilim, pasuk יב
בֵּאלֹקים בָּ֭טַחְתִּי לֹּ֣א אִירָ֑א מַה־יַּעֲשֶׂ֖ה אָדָ֣ם לִֽי
In Hashem I rely,
I am not afraid of what a person will do to me.
This is a very important principle that cannot be reiterated enough. The Baal Bitachon knows that nobody can affect him; no human being can have an impact on him. This is very clear from the pasuk above.
Rabbenu Yonah quotes this pasuk in Mishleh, perek ג, where he says that No human being can benefit him or save him, unless Hashem decrees it. And the same is true for the opposite. No one can harm you unless Hashem decrees it. As the pasuk says,
בֵּאלֹהִ֣ים בָּ֭טַחְתִּי לֹּ֣א אִירָ֑א מַה־יַּעֲשֶׂ֖ה אָדָ֣ם לִֽי
I’ll rely on Hashem and I am not afraid of what any human will do to me.
This pasuk is also quoted in the Hovot HaLevavot’s introduction to Shaar Bitachon, where he talks about the Alchemist, who was once believed to have the power to take base metals like lead and copper and convert them into silver and gold, using his knowledge of chemistry. It was considered a great talent, as it was basically like having a money-printing machine in the basement.
The only problem was that alchemy was not fool proof. The Hovot HaLevavot lists ten advantages that the Baal Bitachon has over the alchemist. One of them is that the alchemist is never secure. He can’t trust anybody with his secret, because what he is doing is illegal. So, he is always afraid. On the other hand, the Baal Bitachon is not afraid of anybody. He is not afraid to share secret power- his Bitachon. On the contrary, he is happy to share this secret. When his competition asks how he did something, he is proud to say that he did it with Bitachon. Not only does the Baal Bitachon not hide his powers, but he shares them. This is a powerful concept.
In any business, the businessman is usually walking around with some type of fear or concern, that his goods won’t come in, or that his secret will get out.. etc. He has worries even in the best-case scenario. But the person who has Bitachon is not afraid of anybody. No human being can harm him, and he doesn’t feel threatened by anybody. He understands that the only One that controls his life, as the Hovot HaLevavot says, is Hashem. No one else can touch him or impact him.
That is the underlying lesson of this pasuk- to realize that any person doing anything to you is nothing more than a messenger of Hashem.
And we don’t deal with the messengers. We don’t tip the traffic cop. If anything, you can get into trouble for bribing an officer. You have to go to his superiors. You have to go to the top. This is how David HaMelech lived his life. Through challenge after challenge, he always had the Bitachon that anything that went wrong, or right, was directly from Hashem.
The Sefarim add further, that even if a person is not deserving, if he puts his reliance in Hashem and isn’t afraid of a person, then midah kneged midah/measure for measure, Hashem will make sure that he does not fall into that person’s hands.
Bitachon does not get rid of sins. If a person is a sinner, he has to get punished, but as David HaMelech said, “I want to fall in the hands of Hashem and not into the hands of a man.”
Of course, there is justice, and you can’t escape Hashem. There is retribution for sin. Bitachon doesn’t avoid that. But what Bitachon does do is that if a person is out to get you, even if you deserve to be punished, it won’t happen through that person. Because you relied on Hashem, Hashem will save you from him.
We have to constantly reiterate this.
Whoever that “threat” is, is not really a threat.
Have a wonderful day.