Your Tefillah Did Accomplish
Many people walk around with a feeling and a question, each in their own way: “I have davened, but my tefillos went unanswered.... I davened hard... I davened for forty consecutive days, I divided Tehillim one thousand times, I have performed all types of segulos, and I visited many gedolim... but I have yet to be answered.” This person is bitter and disappointed, because he has invested so much in tefillah, and it seems that things have only worsened.
The first yesod we must know is that, as we have mentioned above, a tefillah always accomplishes something. Even if we don’t see salvation in the precise area that we’re expecting it, the tefillah was surely put away for yeshuos that we need.
The “Failed” Tefillah Brought Mashiach
Chazal derive the halachah that one must have a set place to daven from the tefillah that Avraham Avinu davened for the sparing of Sedom. The tzaddikim of the Belzer dynasty ask, how can we learn this obligation from an instance where the tefillos were apparently not accepted, for, as we know, Sedom was destroyed?
Say the tzaddikim, to the contrary—this teaches us the true essence of tefillah. We may not have seen it being answered on the spot—but look what happened later! Thanks to this tefillah, Lot was saved, and from him came Mashiach—who will lead the world to its ultimate rectification. The tefillah that apparently wasn’t answered brought about the best thing in the world! And this is the yesod of tefillah: Here and now, we may not see the effects of the tefillah, but it surely did accomplish! It’s impossible otherwise, even if we don’t know how and when.
No, You Didn’t Have Bitachon
But there’s another yesod that we must understand as it relates to the sugya of bitachon and tefillah: Sometimes, a person may be very upset. “I was told that if I’ll have bitachon, I will surely be answered. I had complete bitachon, and I wasn’t answered.” Now, he’s very troubled and disappointed. “I invested all my energies into bitachon, to no avail,” he says. “I had so much hope, and this brought about so much disappointment. Nothing has improved. I would have preferred not to hear about the segulah of bitachon in the first place... and all the serenity that it ostensibly brings me. Don’t tell me about how bitachon will bring me serenity and gladness. I don’t have stomach for all this disappointment.”
When a Yid speaks this way, he’s obviously suffering much pain, and we must surely empathize with it and daven for him. But when it comes to bitachon, he has clearly proclaimed that he does not have bitachon. This may seem harsh, but this person has himself admitted it. If you’re this upset because things didn’t turn out as you would have wished, it is obvious that you have not grasped the simple meaning of bitachon, and we must start from the beginning.
Bitachon: Hashem Knows What’s Good for Me
We have noted many times that bitachon does not mean that Hashem will do exactly what we want. Just because a person wants something very much, it doesn’t mean that his wish will be granted. This is not what bitachon is.
True bitachon means reliance on Hashem, aware that He knows what’s good for us, and we internalize this fact strongly into our hearts—until we truly accept and become joyful with our situation. Even when we daven for “revealed good,” we must always add, “Ribbono shel Olam, You know what’s truly good for me. I may daven for a specific yeshuah, but You do what You know is good for me. If something else is better for me, please do not hearken to my prayer.”
A Sure Sign of Bitachon
Thus, the true test of bitachon is when the Ribbono shel Olam does not do what we wanted. This is when we can see whether this Yid has true bitachon, or he simply had a such a strong desire for something that he wanted to force the Ribbono shel Olam, as it were, to give him what he wants.
If this Yid is joyful and accepting of the outcome, it is a sign that he trusts that the Ribbono shel Olam is doing what is best for him. But if a person is disappointed and disenchanted, this means that he never believed that the Ribbono shel Olam truly knew what’s good for him. This person feels that he knows better what’s...
