We are now starting to study Pesukei Bitachon from Navi. Our first pasuk is from Shemuel I, perek יד pasuk ו
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוֹנָתָן אֶל־הַנַּעַר נֹשֵׂא כֵלָיו לְכָה וְנַעְבְּרָה אֶל־מַצַּב הָעֲרֵלִים הָאֵלֶּה אוּלַי יַעֲשֶׂה ה׳ לָנוּ כִּי אֵין לה׳ מַעְצוֹר לְהוֹשִׁיעַ בְּרַב אוֹ בִמְעָט
Yonatan told the lad, Let us go and cross over this situation of the goyim, maybe God will do for us a miracle, for nothing prevents Hashem from saving, whether through many or few.
Yonatan and this lad are taking on an army. They are just two people, but as Yonatan says, it doesn’t make a difference whether they were an army full of people or just the two of them. Hashem has ways to save.
Of course, you don’t put yourself in harm’s way but he was found in a situation where it was just himself and the lad, and he decided to go for it.
He knew Hashem could save them either way, and they were saved.
We have been studying Pesukei Bitachon for quite a while, and it’s a very heartening feeling to see how far back this concept goes, of quoting pesukim to give hizuk in Bitachon.
Maran Bet Yosef, Rav Yosef Caro, author of the Shulchan Aruch kept a diary, called Maggid Mesharim, describing how an angel would appear to him and give him mussar. When he passed away this diary was found. I recently found that in the section dated Parashat Toldot, he wrote that the angel had to give him mussar because he didn’t want Maran to lose focus on his learning, even for a moment. He wanted him to be constantly thinking in learning, and that any outside thoughts coming into his head was the Yetzer Hara. “Because all you need to really think about is Hashem your God.”
He then quoted a pasuk when Hashem told Benei Yisrael, regarding the mann, “Hashem has taken care of you for forty years without any deficiency.”
He continued and said, “ And you aren’t missing your parnasa either. It is all set for you. All you have to think about is your learning.”
And then the angel quotes our pasuk from Navi, that we mentioned above, which I was excited to see:
אֵין לה׳ מַעְצוֹר לְהוֹשִׁיעַ בְּרַב אוֹ בִמְעָט
There is nothing holding back Hashem from saving you, whether a little or a lot.
And to prove it, the angel added, “Not long ago you had $2000 that God sent you, and you ended up making $5000 worth of profit from that $2,000.”
This is what the angel told him- Don’t you see how small things can take you very far? Therefore, stop worrying and thinking about anything else but you’re learning.
Of course, the Bet Yosef was on a level that they were demanding of him that all should think about, without even stopping for a second,was his learning. He said,
“If you know what you were doing in the upper worlds with your learning, you would not be thinking about anything else. Just think about learning and think about praying. Everything else, Hashem will take care of.”
This is from our pasuk. It doesn’t make a difference how much or how little, Hashem can take the smallest thing and bring you beracha and parnasa and everything else.
Whether it’s the smallest deal, or the smallest effort, whatever it may be, God does not need a lot to make things happen.
Have a wonderful day.