The Secret to Unshakable Faith: Trusting in God’s Love and Mercy

Many people ask me: “It’s true that those who trust in God merit many blessings, but isn’t that a very high demand? How can a person possibly maintain full trust in the Creator all day long?”
On this, Rabbeinu Bachya lists seven foundations that help a person reach complete trust in the Almighty.

God Loves You

Wherever I speak about trusting in God, I hear the same doubts:
“Maybe I don’t deserve it? Who promised me everything will be fine? I’ve sinned a lot — maybe God wants to punish me?”

The answer to all these questions can be learned from a simple example: the youngest child in a family.

That little one hasn’t yet done anything “productive” in life, hasn’t learned Torah, earned money, or created anything significant. Yet, we give to them generously, with love, expecting nothing in return. The child doesn’t think, “Maybe I don’t deserve it”, they simply ask for what they want, certain that their parents will give, because they know they are loved.

My own little daughter comes to me almost every day with a sweet smile, asking, “Daddy, can I have gum?” or “Can I have a shekel to buy candy?” She never wonders if she’s “earned” it — she simply trusts my love for her. The truth is, I often want to give her even more than she asks, just to see her happy.

The Torah tells us plainly: “You are children of the Lord your God” (Deut. 14:1) and “I have loved you, says the Lord” (Malachi 1:2).
To truly reach the level of a person who trusts in God, we must remind ourselves daily: “God loves me.” Not as an abstract idea, but as a deep reality.

One Rebbe explained that if we take all the loves in the world including mother to child, father to son, husband to wife, and combine them, they still wouldn’t equal God’s love for a single Jew. Every Jew is literally a part of God Himself. When the Torah says God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Gen. 2:7), the Zohar explains: “One who breathes, breathes from within himself.” Just as a mother loves her child because she carried him for nine months and nurtured him, God loves us infinitely more, because He created us from nothing, sustains us every moment, and placed within us a piece of His own essence.

The Ramchal, in his introduction to Derech Hashem, writes that God is the ultimate Good, and the nature of good is to give. He created us to bestow upon us eternal goodness, but to spare us the “bread of shame” (unearned gifts), He placed us in this world with challenges, so that we can earn that good through our own choices. Just as a father who sends his son on a hard mission longs for him to succeed, God who sent our soul into this world, yearns for us to pass life’s tests. If we truly believe in His love, we will naturally trust that He will help us overcome our challenges.

God Has Mercy on Me

Love is one thing, but God’s mercy is another boundless reason to trust Him. Sometimes we see a stranger who is hungry, sick, or in distress, and we give to them out of compassion, even though we don’t know them. Mercy doesn’t require prior love or relationship.

If we, with our limited hearts, feel compassion for someone we don’t know, how much more so does God who is the source of all compassion, have mercy on His children. As it says: “He will give you compassion and be compassionate to you” (Deut. 13:18).

If you ask a beggar why he believes people will give him charity, he’ll say: “Because Jews are compassionate people.”
Likewise, a Jew who trusts in God knows that even if he’s not “worthy,” God is merciful and will act with him beyond the letter of the law.

Whenever a Jew approaches God in heartfelt prayer, he awakens God’s attribute of mercy, and from that moment, God treats him with the utmost compassion.