Before the Baal Shem Tov ZY"A was Nisgaleh (revealed), he lived in great poverty. One day he did not have what to feed his family. So, he approached the house of a Gvir (wealthy man), knocked on the door and walked away. The Gvir opened the door and viewed a needy man walking away from his house. He approached the Baal Shem Tov and questioned him, "I don’t understand, if you need something why didn’t you wait at my door, and if you don’t need anything, why did you knock on my door altogether?" To this the Baal Shem Tov answered the Gvir, "I don’t have what to feed my children, so I came to seek your help. But my measurement of Hishtadlus (effort) ends here, and as you see I was helped."
It is also noteworthy to quote the Sefer Shomrei Emunim in which its author Rav Aharon Roth ZY"A writes a story of a Yungerman (young man). A father of two children did not have the means to feed his two children, but he excelled in the Midoh (trait) of Bitochon (trust) in Hashem. Every morning two pigeons would land on his windowsill, and he would Shecht (Kosher slaughtering) them and feed them to his children. My Father Shlit"a quoted to me this episode and added, "It is said as since the Shomer Emunim does not quote the Baal Ho'uvdoh (person of the story), he was writing about himself.
Rabbeinu Bechayei says that Yosef HaTzadik was punished with two extra years of prison, as only to him, of great stature was it an issue that he asked to be mentioned at Pharoh.
From the aforementioned accounts we must learn from these great Tzadikim that one must have Bitochon in Hashem. Hishtadlus is only a means, not the end.
