Paths of Faith: Rely Completely on Hashem and He Will Not Abandon Us

A father traveled with his son to Be'er Sheva. The son asked, 'Dad, does the driver definitely know where Be'er Sheva is?' The father replied: 'Yes.' 'Dad, are you sure he knows the way?' The father replied: 'Yes.' 'Dad, will he get us to the station we need to be?' 'Yes.' The son wondered: 'How are you so sure?' The father replied: 'Because it's his job, he is the driver.'

Hashem is the driver of the world. We believe He knows, for He truly knows which path each of us must travel for the correction of our soul. If we trust a pharmacist not to give us poison instead of medicine, how much more so should we trust Hashem. We entrust doctors, despite all the occasional errors made even by experienced doctors. We are willing to pay them a fortune and entrust our most precious asset, our health and our children’s health, to them, because we know that despite the mistakes, the doctor is the professional and knows much more than we do. So should we not trust Hashem?!

When a child runs to his father, he throws himself into his arms, and the father opens his arms to catch him. The child doesn’t doubt for a moment that his father will not open his arms to embrace him. This confidence, this absolute trust, guarantees beyond doubt that the father will not let his son fall painfully. When the child throws himself, the father must catch him.

If we act "like a baby weaned by its mother"—like an infant surely confident that whatever happens, his heavenly Father will hold him and he will not fall—Hashem truly will not let him fall.

When the angels came to Lot’s house, the Sodomites demanded that he send them out so they could kill them, as they did to unsolicited guests in their city. Lot told the Sodomites: "Please do not harm the angels, for they came under the protection of my roof" (Genesis 19:8).

The "Chafetz Chaim" ztz"l asks: Is the fact that the angels are under his roof a reason not to betray them? But because they came to him, they want to kill them!

Rather, Lot told the Sodomites: They came to me, they are my guests, they rely on me. And if they rely on me—I cannot abandon them!

Says the "Chafetz Chaim": Even the Sodomites understood that if one relies on you, you cannot abandon them!

So without a doubt, if we wholeheartedly rely on Hashem, He will not abandon us.

When we are entirely dependent on Hashem and trust Him completely, He will not abandon us and will protect us. A person who feels he can manage on his own makes Hashem, as if, withdraw His supervision from him and lets him manage by himself. But a person who is entirely dependent on Hashem—He protects more.

Rabbeinu Bachya says that when the Israelites approached the Land of Israel, they suddenly saw that the nations had prepared food for a long time in advance and did not worry, then they complained to Moshe Rabbeinu and said: 'Why do the nations receive their sustenance in advance and have no worries for the next day, while we depend every day on the manna, whether it will come or not, whether it will fall by our door or if we’ll have to go far? We want to be like the nations who manage on their own and are not so dependent on Hashem!'

When Hashem saw that the Israelites did not want to be dependent on Him, He, as if, slightly withdrew His protection from them, and then snakes came and bit them.

The righteous say there were no new snakes that arrived, but there were always snakes around them in the desert. Until then, Hashem prevented the snakes from harming them, but when they showed they did not want to depend on Hashem, He withdrew His protection, and the snakes were able to penetrate the camp and harm the people.

And how were they saved from the snakes? Hashem instructed Moshe Rabbeinu to place a copper snake on a high pole, and everyone who looked at the snake also saw the heavens and remembered Hashem, thereby strengthening his faith that everything comes from Hashem and that he must return to being dependent on Him like a baby weaned by its mother, and be healed. Because when a person remembers that everything is from Hashem and truly relies on Him, Hashem will not abandon him.

So says the "Shem MiShmuel" that the Israelites count the days—meaning build their calendar—according to the moon, while other nations do so according to the sun. The moon receives its light from the sun and thus shines, it can wrongly think that it is shining by its own strength, and mistakenly think it does not need the sun and can manage alone. However, during its movement around the Earth, it reaches a position where the sun's rays do not illuminate it entirely, and then the moon appears diminished and small in our eyes. Only then will it understand it needs the sun, and without it, it has no light at all.

This is why Israel counts by the moon, to instill in their hearts the understanding and feeling that when a small recipient distances itself from the source of light, warmth, and all goodness, thinking mistakenly that it can manage on its own with its own strength—in that case, we learn that when distant, it lacks light, goodness, and becomes minimal, pale, and defenseless (Shem MiShmuel).

A person who mistakenly thinks he can manage alone and does not remember that everything is in Hashem's hands may find himself lacking divine abundance. But a person who fully trusts Hashem and depends entirely on Him—He will not abandon.

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