We are now in prerequisite Number Two in our review of what we need to know about G-d’s relationship with us, so that we can rewire our brains for Bitachon.
והשני כי הבורא יתעלה לא יעלמו ממנו אפני תועלת האדם
Number Two: G-d knows what’s best for you.
The Hovot HaLevavot says this is logic, because G-d made you. Who knows what’s good or bad for a product better than the one that made it?
When we say “the one that made it” we are referring to the maker of a physical product. For example, if your Toyota breaks, it’s best to take it to a Toyota dealer to fix it. He knows the car better than others do.
When I was a child, about thirty years ago, people were just starting to buy foreign cars. It was well known that only a Jaguar dealer knew how to repair a Jaguar. Therefore, you’d think twice before buying one because only the British had the know-how to fix them. They were made differently.
Says the Hovot HaLevavot, if this is true even of a human being who didn’t really create the product, he just played around with steel and moved things around, but the essence was the same as before (something from something, not יש מאין -something from nothing like G-d does), how much more so, G-d, who created every human being, and created our essence, and set us all up, knows what’s good for each of us, better than anyone else.
We have to rewire our brains. Hashem is our Master Mechanic. He knows what to do. Clearly , what He’s doing is good for us. He knows how to fix the person. He’ll give you exactly what you need. But sometimes people are foolish. They don’t know what’s good for them.
Going back to Jaguars, back in my home town, there was a a man who was known to buy Jaguars. One day, as he was driving, his car just died. The dealership figured it out quickly- he had ruined the car.
How? He had decided to use diesel gas because it was cheaper. He figured that since trucks use it, he could use it too and save money. Eventually, this killed the car. This is pretty simple for the mechanic to realize, but of course, if you’re not a mechanic you may not know what you did wrong. How much more difficult it is to understand the human psyche and know why you need one challenge or another to bring out the best in you. You think- I don’t want to live with person, or that situation, or, I don’t want that challenge. We wonder why these things happen.
The answer is that we need might need unleaded, while our friend needs diesel. We might look the same, just as the cars might look the same, but just like each face is different, each psyche is different. No two finger prints are alike and everyone has special gasoline made just for them.
There’s a pasuk that says
"אני ה' אלקיך מלמדך להועיל מדריכך בדרך תלך".
I teach you what’s best and guide you in the road to take.
The comparison is given to a child learning how to walk. Many have given this mashal. We step back, away from the child and he starts to walk toward us. He falls a little bit. But he needs that space to trip and get up. If his parents always hold him he won’t walk. Hashem is our parent. He’s teaching us how to walk.
Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch writes, on his commentary to tehilim, that David HaMelech was the youngest of eight brothers. He was disgraced, shamed, his father didn’t recognize his qualities. He wasn’t even brought in to Shemuel when he came to anoint the king. He was a lone shepherd, and poorly treated, but this is what developed him and made him great. Rabbi Miller says a similar thing; that David HaMelech’s challenges created Tehilim. If he’d had an easy life, we would not have sefer Tehilim. G-d put him in those situations to bring out his beauty. All of his chases and challenges and difficulties brought out sefer Tehilim.
That’s what it means that G-d the Maker knows what’s good for us.
Again, we have to rewire our brains in these concepts, to teach us that Hashem loves us and cares for us.