True, the Ribbono shel Olam will help you, and only the Ribbono shel Olam can help you. But—as the Taz teaches us—since we are not on a high enough level of bitachon to be able to be helped without a physician—i.e., we don’t know which parts and aspects of Torah to learn—we must seek out the help of Chachamim.
With the Right Guidance, We Can Be Helped
If a person were to be ill in his guf, he would not hesitate to go to a doctor—not relying merely on his bitachon. The same applies to choli hanefesh... it is no different.
How often do we find that a person finds himself always thinking along certain lines, and it is with the help of experts, G-d-fearing chachamim, that he understands that this is due to a childhood experience that he has long forgotten. It happened long ago, and he would never have associated that event with his current life—but the reality is that it irks him, and it disturbs his avodas Hashem.
Therefore, one must go to a Chacham who will guide him on how to resolve this matter in the keeping with the principles of Torah and yiras Hashem.
Seeking Help with Emunah and Tefillah
It is superfluous to say that when seeking help, it must be done—like everything else—like an ehrliche Yid. One must daven beforehand that Hashem send the correct shaliach, who will guide him in the right way. One should do nothing before davening, and he must ensure that everything is done in keeping with Torah principles... otherwise, it can be a waste of time and money.
Even when sitting with the Chacham, one should constantly bear in mind that only the Ribbono shel Olam can help him, and when one sees success, one should give thanks to Hashem, Who enabled the help to come.
Fulfilling the Will of Hashem: Doing Our Hishtadlus
The entire endeavor of seeking help for the nefesh is no different than when we engage in hishtadlus for parnassah or healing our bodies: a person must do his hishtadlus, and simultaneously rely completely on the Ribbono shel Olam—as we have discussed at length regarding parnassah; one of the reasons people don’t see success is because they didn’t follow the ratzon Hashem and do their hishtadlus. They left out that crucial part. They talk about how Hashem does everything, and we can do nothing, but in reality, they’re covering for their laziness. They’re not interested in exerting themselves, and thus they don’t receive the Heavenly blessings.
The same applies to every area in which a person hopes for the shefah to come to him; both when seeing to heal the guf as well as the nefesh: We believe that only Hashem can open our heart and our nefesh, and even if we go to the greatest doctor and spend great amounts of money, it is only in the hands of the Ribbono shel Olam to open our heart.
Hashem says, “I want your heart.” As long as the heart isn’t in order... it hasn’t worked out its issues... it is very difficult for Torah to connect with the heart. It can’t be אלוקיך, ה› את ואהבת to love Hashem with all that we have, because there is a barrier in the heart that prevents it from feeling properly.
May Hashem help us and illuminate for us so that we go on the proper way, step by step, and grant us the siyatta diShmaya to attain true success.
