We continue with the prerequisites necessary for relying on someone. We have already discussed the first two prerequisites:
1- This Being loves you
2- You’re always on His mind
If the person has these two qualities, you’re on your way. This person you’re relying on, he’d pick you up from the airport, because he loves you and doesn’t forget you, but there are other impediments involved.
He has to know everything he needs to know, and he can’t be beatable or stoppable. If there’s a snowstorm or he doesn’t know the way, he can’t come and so his reliability drops.
Therefore, in order to know who we can rely on, we need two more qualities. The Hovot HaLevavot tells us that the person must be חכם wise ולא ינצח And that no one can beat him. These are our third and fourth prerequisites on the Bitachon checklist. He loves us, watches over us, and knows exactly what needs to be done and no one can beat Him. Hashem has these qualities.
The first pasuk the Hovot HaLevavot brings to teach us this is from Iyob:
(איוב ט ד) חכם לבב ואמיץ כח מי הקשה אליו וישלם
G-d is wise of heart, strong, and courageous. Did anyone ever try to be tough with Him and remain complete?
When two forces knock against each other, which will stay intact? When a car crashes into a wall, either the car is going to break or the wall collapses. In our case, G-d is this wall that never was broken. He’s wise and He’s solid, so to speak.
The Gaon of Vilna, in his Sefer Aderet Eliyahu, said that in order to win a war you need two factors. You have to be strong and smart. Not all strong armies are smart, and not all smart armies are strong. Lo Alenu, the Palestinians, for example, use tactics and cunning such as kite bombs etc. (and we wish them all the failure possible.) When someone uses tactics it’s difficult. Even with strength tactics are hard to fight.
G-d has both wisdom and strength, and therefore He’s unbeatable. He has these two qualities.
He’s all-powerful and all-wise. No one can outsmart him. Pharoah tried to outsmart G-d. G-d laughed. Hashem is ten steps ahead. It might look like He’s losing for the moment but He’s winning. Never lose focus that this Being we’re relying on is very smart and very strong. (And He loves us and is watching us) if we have that, we’re good.
The next pasuk the Hovot HaLevavot brings is something we say every day in the portion of ויברך דויד את י-ה-ו-ה
David HaMelech got up in front of the entire congregation and made beautiful proclamations. We say this every day because it’s so important.
The first letter of each of those initial words spells ודאי vadai- which means, “I’m convinced.” David HaMelech was convinced of his Bitachon in Hashem. We have to be convinced.
ויאמר דויד, ברוך אתה ה’ אלוקי ישראל
And David said....Hashem is the Jewish G-d and supervises us, (He watches over us)
אבינו, He’s our Father (He loves us like a father)
מעולם, ועד-עולם. He has never changed. He’s a constant. (This, we will soon learn, is another factor)
When we see the qualities Hashem has, it strengthens our bitachon:
לך ה׳ הגדולה והגבורה והתפארת, והנצח וההוד, כי-כול, בשמיים ובארץ:
You have greatness, strength, glory, victory, shining
You are in charge of everything in heaven and on Earth.
לך ה׳ הממלכה,
והמתנשא לכול לראש.
You have kingdom, and You uplift anybody
(The Gemara says even when a garbage man gets a promotion it’s from Hashem)
והעושר והכבוד מלפניך
All wealth and all honor comes from You,
(At this point in the tefilla it’s customary to give charity, because we realize we aren’t in charge of anything)
, ואתה מושל בכול
You are in charge of everything
ובידך כוח וגבורה;
You have strength and power in Your hands
ובידך לגדל ולחזק לכול.
You can make everything or anyone great
עתה אלוקינו, מודים אנחנו לך;
ומהללים, לשם תפארתך
We thank You and praise You
This is a quote from Divri Hayamim, by David HaMelech. The Hovot HaLevavot points out that within these pesukim we have three or more of our fundamentals, so if you make a note of this in your siddur and review it daily, you’ll be on track to realizing who to rely on.