Bitachon 204 - No Evil Befalls Us

You're listening to the 204th edition of the podcast. Today we're going to learn a p in chapter 112 verse 7 of a person we'll see there's two different ways to understand the like two different directions of understanding it but let's just translate it simply person who trusts in hashem he's not afraid of bad news his heart is set his heart is very assured within him cuz he trusts believes in Hashem. I'd like to read to you from the that surround this. This is chapter 112 of Kuf Halashem. The chapter is a short chapter and speaks about the one who fears Hashem, the one who rever Hashem. And as the explains, we're not talking about somebody who's living in fear of God, fear of sin. Meaning, we're not speaking of someone who's afraid of the punishments, but rather we're speaking of someone who has who rever God's greatness. Such a person of he really desires Hashem's will. He really desires to do Hashem's commandments. And as the M points out right before speak also about at the end of chapter 11, The beginning of wisdom is revering God and a person who has that person who does it. So he has which means literally good intellect, good wisdom. But the explains that it means that a person has a person who is in a place of revering Hashem is in a place of recognition of Hashem's will. Hashem manifests makes things clear to that person that other people don't see and don't know. A person who's seeking after Hashem's will that's what happens says B of his children will be very strong and mighty in the land a generation of of righteous ones will be blessed if we seek after what's right. So our children are going to see that. They're going to emulate that. He has all that he needs. He has prosperity. He has righteousness. It stands for him forever. He's aligned with Hashem. He's in a good space spiritually. God shines a light in the darkness for those who are straight. God is, it seems to me, talking about Hashem is gracious. Hashem is compassionate. Hashem is righteous. This person is emulating Hashem. When we seek Hashem's will, we're looking for being godly. Interestingly, the says and and we've spoken about this in the last few weeks. It's not just about trying to to get what we want from Hashem, doing what's right. Yeah, that's true. We got to do what's right. We can ask Hashem for what we want. But it's also about a relationship with others. Being in the space of means that I'm also doing kindness to others. I'm lending money. I'm doing that which is just, that which is right. And this person will never falter. Excuse me. His memory will last forever. this righteous person. Here's our I'm going to read till the end of the chapter as well. The person who's righteous, the person who's seeking to be like Hashem, who's trying to to do what's right, who's trying to have a good relationship with others, who's doing kindness to others. This person is not afraid of any bad news. And we'll see that it can either mean that a person who has is not afraid or it can also mean it's a promise that Hashem says if you have you don't have to be afraid. Nothing bad's going to happen to you. His heart is assured inside of him. He's completely faithful. He has full faith in Hashem. His heart depends on Hashem. He's not afraid. of and that continues that kind of attitude continues until he sees the downfall of his enemies. He gives out money to the poor. He's not afraid. We've spoken about this in the past. A person who has is not afraid to give to others. doesn't I don't feel so constricted if I'm living in a world of talking because I know that whatever I give to somebody else that's part of my relationship with Hashem I'm gonna have more his honor will be raised up finishes off the end of it all is that the person who is wicked the person who doesn't have I don't want to say that whoever doesn't have a relationship with is wicked but maybe we could say that person who doesn't have that relationship ship, a person who doesn't have, a person who is far from Hashem, not seeking to do his will, but doesn't care about other people. So, he's going to see and he's going to be angered cuz the wicked person is trying to grab so much from life, trying to hold on to his money so that no one else will have it, so that he can have it and he can guarantee his future. But in the end, the sadic is the one, the one who's dependent on Hashem. That's the one who is successful in the world. And it's a source of frustration for the the wicked who tried so hard. his teeth will melt. They'll fall out. The desire of the wicked will be lost. So there's two paths in front of us. And it looks like the person who's grabby and tries to accomplish and tries to succeed. It looks like that person, you know, does succeed perhaps to a certain extent. Looks like the person who lay is laid back, the person who's depending on Hashem, maybe he's waiting for stuff to come to him or maybe he's active but doesn't look like he's going to succeed. He's not grabbing enough. It's a doggy dog world, right? That's what they say. And and it comes out in the end. Those are the two paths. But if I choose the path of righteousness, the path of charity, the path of goodness and the path of trying to have a relationship with with Hashem, with God. So then ultimately the truth is that even the wicked will acknowledge that their path didn't work out well for them. Let's look together here green which quotes our puk and it says like this. was known for his tremendous. He had such awesome faith in Hashem. You know, it's known that Shama and each day he would do something to honor Shabas. He' buy something and say, "Wow, he found something really special." He buy it for Shabas and the next day he'd find something nicer. He'd buy that and use the first item for the weekday. The third day he'd find something nicer and say, "This is for Shabas." Each day he'd do that until finally Friday. He'd have the nicest thing for Shabas. Hill was different. Hill would have be talking then on Friday, even he wouldn't start at the beginning of the week buying stuff. He would be always thinking maybe he he'd be focused and and he'd be recognizing that Hashem is going to provide him with exactly what he needs, exactly what he wants, excuse me, to properly honor Shabas. and he'd be happy talking on Friday he would find that awesome outstanding item that he would buy in order to have for Shabas. So Zakin was somebody who lived with and his worked so to speak. He lived in a a space where he felt connected always to Hashem and he knew that Hashem would provide him with all that he wanted and needed really. So there was a story with Hil. Now that's just for some background about there's a story with he came home. He had been on the road and he came home. He heard a crazy amount of screaming going on in the city. Didn't know who it was. He didn't know where it was from. Basically, he said, "I'm absolutely positive that screaming is not coming from my house. There's no there's no reason that someone would scream like that in my house. about this about this type of approach and awareness and assuredness knowing for sure that that screaming is not coming from his house. No situation could have occurred in his house that would have caused that kind of screaming. That's this puk the person who is has so he knows that nothing bad can happen nothing bad can happen to him says can explain in two different directions. What does that mean? We said this earlier. It's a natural result when a person works on when a person is in a place where they really trust Hashem. So he's not afraid of any kind of negative um negative news. There's no bad news in his world. It doesn't necessarily mean that nothing bad happens but he doesn't get knocked over by it. You can also understand it in the other direction that there's a promise that a person who has full Hashem promises them that they will never ever have anything bad happen to them. Nothing bad can happen in their lives. who tell me that theor brings examples of this. There was a particular student. He was walking behind and they were in in Jerusalem. They're walking through they're walking through the market saw that his student was afraid. Maybe there were some ruffians around or there was something to be afraid of perhaps but he but he saw that he was afraid he said you're a sinner if you're afraid says in Isaiah 33:14 the sinners were afraid so he responded the student said what's going on what do you mean how do you know that I'm a sinner just cuz I'm afraid I'm I'm afraid You know, we find the says in Mishal, praiseworthy is the person who's always afraid. Person's not supposed to, you know, you're allowed to be fearful. You got to be you got to be on the lookout. Bad things can happen. So he responded and said, the teacher responded and said, "No, that's talking about when it comes to the matters of spiritual spiritual matters. When it comes to keeping Hashem's Torah, I need to be afraid that I'm not doing it properly. I need to be afraid I'm not serving Hashem properly, but it doesn't mean that I need to walk around in fear that something's going to get me. I'm going to get going to get hurt." That's that's not the correct attitude. He was explaining to him based this that's this very idea of this a person who is righteous person who is a hashem who fears Hashem so they're not afraid they don't walk around afraid and if a person walks around afraid so it shows that there's something missing in his relationship with Hashem doesn't feel protected he doesn't feel safe was walking behind a great sage. Maybe it was his student as well as he groaned. He made a He made a a sighing sound, a worried sound to Yehuda. He said, "What what are you sighing about? What are you groaning about? Do you want to bring upon yourself some kind of difficulties in your life? quoted the puzz recognized that the negative situations he found himself in the the difficulties that came upon him were a result of his fear. If we're fearful, if we if we express that fear instead of having and instead of talking it out with it doesn't mean that I can't be fearful. It doesn't mean it means that I can't allow my fear to grip me and take hold of my consciousness because that itself could cause the very thing that I fear to come. Again, the students said, "Hey, what about the puzzle that says you're always supposed to be afraid? Ty it again. It doesn't mean I'm supposed to walk around in fear. It means I have to be sure that I'm I have to be afraid that I'm not keeping Hashem's Tyra properly. It's very interesting because where do I direct my fear? I direct my fear not towards the fact that someone might hurt me. Not towards the fact that some financial calamity, heaven forbid, may occur to me. I direct my fear. Maybe I'm not doing things correctly in my relationship with with Hashem, with God. Maybe I'm not keeping his Tyra properly. That's what I need to be afraid of. I need to be afraid that I'm not might be another doesn't look like it's supposed to. My my obligations to other people are not being met. I'm not giving enough charity. Maybe money might be I might lose money because I'm not using my money in the right way. The way that prescribes for me. Maybe I'm not serving the properly and my relationship with him is is weak and therefore the blessings that come upon a person who who has a good relationship with Hashem maybe they won't come maybe they're not going to come because I am weak that's where I need to turn my mind that's the focus that I need to have the right says and explain this he explains has always said. Why is it that a person doesn't have to be afraid of bad news? Because his actions are correct and he has faith in you have this is a promise. This is a promise to the righteous individual. You don't have to be afraid of anything. No bad news is going to come into your life if you're if you're prepared, if your actions are correct, if you're you know having a relationship with you're prepared to show up in that relationship and say do your will and and when we say we can also understand the verse in in the opposite order of it's not necessarily ly a promise to the righteous individual. This is what King David is saying. A person who has this appropriate uh faith in Hashem is not afraid of bad news. The bad news doesn't knock him over. The the thing that's it's he's not it doesn't affect him the way it affects other people. People get knocked down because they don't understand. I should speak about myself. I get knocked down because I don't understand that whatever happens to me is from him. It's from And if if something happens, it doesn't look good to me. But everything is from him. There's going to be some light at the end at the other end of this tunnel cuz only wants the best for me. was you could really read this two different ways. He had faith in his and his righteousness that nothing would happen to him or it could mean because of his righteousness he had he had faith that nothing bad would happen to him and if anything bad happens it's not going to be a terrible situation. There's a grow here which is a little bit difficult. So I'm going to skip it for now. We will come back to it. But I like to read to you from he brings here. He brings here a question that's asked in the safer. How did have the spiritual audacity perhaps or the audacity at all to say that I'm sure that nothing is happening in my house. No bad thing has happened in my house. There's no such thing as a person who's perfect who never sins. So a person sins. So sometimes things can happen in their life which are negative to clean off the sin. And even even if it would have been possible for someone to be found without any sin, it doesn't make sense. He's praising himself. We know that was known for his great humility. Something sons need to understand in the story. Obviously, something's not adding up. It says an amazing thing that Hill had worked on himself. He had worked on his soul. He had worked on his emotions that if something bad happened in his life, something that looked bad, he received it with a with a good countenance. He didn't view negative situations as so negative. He understood that everything from Hashem, everything is from Hashem and everything is ultimately for my good. This is something that he taught to those in his household. Sara they Hillel and his family they had practiced when whenever anything bad happened in their lives to receive it with equinimity. He didn't get he didn't get knocked over by it. So if he heard screams and shrieks coming from a house coming from the city he knew. He said, "I'm I'm absolutely certain certain that those shrieks and those screams are not coming from my house." He wasn't saying that for sure nothing bad is happening in my house. He wasn't saying, he wasn't denying that there could be something bad that happens in his house. He was saying it can't be that that screaming and shrieking, that kind of response to something bad. He knew for sure that's not in his house. There's no sounds like that. That's not the response in his house to bad things going on because they had gotten used to and accustomed themselves and worked on receiving negative situations with a good heart with an open heart perhaps he says to with good heart that's what the means when it says that the the person who is does not find himself in a faith of state of fear. The hint here is that even if he hears a bad a bad bad tidings, he's not afraid of it because he knows that this negative situation or this negative news that he heard is there to clean him off. He knows it's for his good. Thank you so much for listening. See you again next time.