Question
How can a person know if his relaxed and worry-free attitude about doing hishtadlus (making effort) when things aren’t going well for him is really coming from truly having bitachon in Hashem, or if it’s just his yetzer hora fooling him and causing him to run away from reality and just be lazy? Maybe he’s really supposed to be doing more hishtadlus...?
Answer
The better a person can “listen” to what’s going on in the different parts of his soul, the closer he is to acting truthfully, and the further he will be from being deluded by fantasies. Generally, one’s bitachon depends on how well he is doing in other areas of his avodah. If a person is being realistic and responsible in all other areas of his avodah, then he will be more realistic and responsible when it comes to his bitachon. There are always elements of truth and fantasy that are affecting a person, and the only question is, how much. But a person cannot know the percentages so perfectly. It is a “holy doubt” that we have [which we need to be at peace with]. We need to always daven and cry to Hashem that He should guide us towards the truth.
