Faith vs. Effort: How Trust in God Shapes Livelihood, Health, and Success

Many wonder how much effort is required in life, when we are taught to trust in God. God asks us to make some effort because He does not want to run the world openly through miracles. If everything were miraculous and clear, there would be no space for free will or for faith to be tested. The world is called “Olam” from the root “he’elem” (hiddenness). Effort serves as a veil, concealing God’s flow of abundance, but it doesn’t change the outcome itself.

The Chofetz Chaim shared a parable and explained that human effort is like a passenger on a moving train trying with all his might to push the carriage from the inside, thinking he’s making the train go faster. In reality, his effort does nothing.

Some rare individuals have reached such perfect levels of trust (bitachon) that they truly need no effort at all, because for them, nature and miracle are one and the same.

How Much Effort is Required?

Rabbi Yigal Cohen explains: “The amount of effort a person must make depends on the level of his trust in God. Not only the quality of the effort, but even the quantity depends on his trust.”

For example:

• If a person feels a mild stomach ache and believes wholeheartedly that God can heal him without medicine, he might say to himself: “In a few minutes it will pass.” Since in his heart he trusts God to remove the pain, he does not need to run to a doctor. He can simply trust God to heal him, and indeed God will.

• If someone suffers sharp, unbearable pains, and at that moment finds it very hard to believe the pain could disappear without treatment, then he must seek a doctor and take medication. This is because his level of trust is not yet sufficient.

The same applies to livelihood. If a person truly believes that even by working just two hours a day, God could provide everything he needs, then he may work those two hours and devote the rest of his time to Torah and good deeds. God will ensure his needs are met, as it says: “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you” (Tehillim 55:23).

If however someone finds it impossible to believe his family’s needs could be met with only two hours of work, then he must put in more effort — because otherwise his lack of trust would leave him anxious and unsettled.

The rule is that the more a person strengthens his trust in God, the less effort he needs to make. The absolute truth is that God doesn’t need our effort at all to provide for us, but He tied the amount of effort to the level of trust in Him.

Faith, Effort, and Divine Measure

King David said: “May Your kindness be upon us, Lord, as we have hoped in You” (Tehillim 33:22). The Metzudat David commentary explains: “According to the hope, so will be the kindness.” The more one trusts in God, the more divine kindness he merits.

• If a person trusts in God 80%, he merits 80% divine assistance and 20% is left to natural forces and statistics.

• If he trusts only a little, God leaves him more in the hands of “nature.” He’ll need to chase the best doctors, send endless résumés, or knock on many doors.

• As Rabbeinu Bachya wrote in Chovot HaLevavot: “Whoever trusts in anything other than God, God removes His providence from him and leaves him in the hands of what he trusted.”

The less a person trusts God, the more he is left to chance, to nature, to luck, or to statistics.

A Key Principle

As Rabbi Ovadia Chen explains: “The level of effort required is not the same for everyone as it changes according to the level of a person’s faith at that time. The greater the faith, the smaller the effort needed. What for one person is considered necessary effort, for another would be considered a lack of trust.”

In material matters, effort is proportional to faith. In spiritual matters, however, one must always exert maximum effort to study, pray, and do mitzvot, because there God assists after we give our full effort.