Today we will study perek עא in Tehilim, pasuk א
(71,1)
בְּךָ ה׳ חָסִיתִי אַל־אֵבוֹשָׁה לְעוֹלָם
In You Hashem I seek refuge, I should not be embarrassed L’Olam/forever.
The commentaries ( the Midrash Shochar Tov on Tehilim) make a point regarding the word L’Olam/Forever:
David HaMelech is saying, “There have been times that I have been embarrassed in this world, when things did not go the way I wanted them to. But I know that the embarrassment that I have is only temporary, in this world; it won’t be forever.”
That is why it says in Yeshaya (45,17)
יִשְׂרָאֵל נוֹשַׁע בַּה׳ תְּשׁוּעַת עוֹלָמִים לֹא־תֵבֹשׁוּ וְלֹא־תִכָּלְמוּ עַד־עוֹלְמֵי עַד
Yisrael has won through Hashem, the salvation of worlds, they will not be embarrassed forever and ever
Our Bitachon tells us that even though we aren’t immediately answered, eventually we will be.
The Ramchal adds a beautiful thought to this:
We need these embarrassments and challenging times, because the rule is that a person was put in this world so that he should not eat what is called, “the bread of shame.” The “bread of shame,” means eating bread that you don’t deserve, like eating food from a free soup kitchen. If Hashem were to give us the redemption immediately, without any challenges, then it would be embarrassing for us, because we wouldn’t deserve it.
But now that we have gone through these challenging and embarrassing times, and we accept them with love, and we don’t kick, but rather we continue to seek refuge in God even as we go through the challenges (which we accept with happiness) and hope for the Geula/redemption, therefore we won’t be embarrassed when the Geula does come. We will be proud to say that we deserved it.
Every day in our Amida, we say a beracha that mentions Bitachon. It’s the beracha of the Sadikim. It’s starts off
על הצדיקים ועל החסדים …..
And then we say,
ותן שכר טוב לכל הבטחים בשמך באמת
Give reward to those that rely on You in truth and let us have a portion with them,
ולעולם לא נבוש
We shouldn’t be embarrassed L’Olam/forever,
כי בך בטחנו
Because we relied on You
Notice that it says, we shouldn’t be embarrassed L’Olam, which comes from our pasuk: אל אבושה לעולם
We won’t be embarrassed forever
Yes, there will be embarrassments, there will be trying times, but it won’t be forever, because this world is limited. Even if we have challenges in this world, Hashem is around for a very long time, and eventually we will be rewarded. Eventually, we will see the fruits of our labor.
In Baruch She’amar, we say,
“Blessed is the One that will reward those who fear Him/ Blessed is the One that lives forever, and lasts for all eternity.“
These lines are juxtaposed because Hashem is there forever. Even though we are not answered or rewarded immediately, we know that Hashem lasts forever. Although we might be embarrassed or challenged now, it won’t be forever. And those challenges are there so that when we finally are redeemed, we won’t be embarrassed, because we worked for it, and we got there through our Bitachon.