Today we will discuss tehilim perek 56, pasuk 5
בֵּאלֹקים֮ אֲהַלֵּ֢ל דְּבָ֫ר֥וֹ בֵּאלֹקים בָּ֭טַחְתִּי לֹ֣א אִירָ֑א מַה־יַּעֲשֶׂ֖ה בָשָׂ֣ר לִֽי
In Hashem I will praise His word
In Hashem I have relied, I will not fear
What can a mortal of flesh do to me?
David HaMelech uses the word “Elokim” which means God’s justice. Rashi, Midrashim and other commentaries explain this to mean that, “Even when God deals with me with justice, I still praise Him and rely on Him.” How does that work? Rav Chaim HaKohen, quoted in the sefer Mikdash Me’at, explains that David HaMelech is telling us that when Hashem causes us challenges and suffering, “I realize that I am paying off my debt. Obviously this is what I need.”
-Like a man going to the dentist for a root canal is paying off the debt of eating too much sugar.
And once I’ve paid off my debt, I know that salvation will come and I am no longer afraid.
So that’s how this pasuk reads:
בֵּאלֹקים֮ אֲהַלֵּ֢ל דְּבָ֫ר֥וֹ
Because I praised God’s justice,
בֵּאלֹקים בָּ֭טַחְתִּי לֹ֣א אִירָ֑א מַה־יַּעֲשֶׂ֖ה בָשָׂ֣ר לִֽי
I am not afraid of what anyone is going to do to me anymore.
Because I quieted the prosecutors down by accepting God’s justice, the challenges and sufferings. Therefore, going forward, I’m not worried anymore.
I celebrate the difficulties and challenges, because I realize that they are there to cleanse me, and to pay off my debts.
The Elder of Kelm connects this pasuk to the previous one, which says
י֥וֹם אִירָ֑א אֲ֝נִ֗י אֵלֶ֥יךָ אֶבְטָֽח׃
On a day I fear, I relied on you.
How does one rely on Hashem in a time of fear?
The Elder of Kelm mentions a mashal from the Maharal:
It takes a lot of courage for a person to walk on a tight rope. Most of us wouldn’t walk on a tight rope even with a net below it. But what about if it was a 2 x 4 stretched from the top of one mountain to the another? Most people would not walk on that either. If the 2x4 was on the floor, then everybody would be comfortable walking across.
What changed? There is no difference in the balance necessary to walk on the 2 x 4 suspended between two mountains or across the floor.
The answer is that when a person is concerned about falling, that fear is what makes them fall. If a person does not care about falling, then he is confident that he can walk across. The Elder of Kelm said that David HaMelech was comfortable falling off, meaning, Whatever challenge or fear of the future I may have, I know it is being controlled by Hashem. Therefore, I am OK with it. I might want to avoid it if I can, but if that is what Hashem wants, I accept my future. This acceptance of God‘s justice takes the edge off of the fear, which allows me to go through the challenge, in a more confident way. The ability to rely on Hashem, even on the day of fear (which was yesterday’s pasuk) is rooted in the fact that David HaMelech says that Regardless of the outcome, I know that it will be good. That, in itself, will strengthen me and enable me to to have reliance and Bitachon on Hashem.
Fear paralyzes. People get frozen wondering What will be? What will happen?
This works even in psychology. Anxiety experts and therapists ask people, when they are worried about something, “What is the worst thing that can happen?”
And they keep asking about the worst case scenarios. Then the experts advise the person to fast forward and accept that possibility.
That is really what David HaMelech is telling us. Fast forward to the worst possible scenario, but recognize that even that is-
בֵּאלֹקים֮ אֲהַלֵּ֢ל דְּבָ֫ר֥וֹ
I will praise Hashem for that.
So if the worst case scenario is praiseworthy, then the anxiety dissipates.
But aside from just dissipating anxiety, this allows us to rely on Hashem. Sometimes we have to dissipate the anxiety in order to enable us to rely on Hashem. It works both ways. Reliance causes the anxiety to go away, and once the anxiety dissipates, a person can rely on Hashem with a clear mind. This is David Hamelech’s technique, which is really a psychology of sorts. Accepting and celebrating the outcome, regardless, calms me down and allows me to rely on Hashem, to pull me out of the situation that I am in.
Have a wonderful day.