Banging on the Door
In truth, the entire concept of אותו מסעיין ליטהר הבא, one who seeks to purify himself is aided from Above, is rooted in bitachon, as the Shelah HaKadosh teaches us, “One who comes to purify himself should trust that HaKadosh Baruch Hu will help him.” A person must understand that there is no reason whatsoever to despair.
And we will explain this further as follows: People despair when they don’t see an end in sight. They try and try, and they don’t see that it helps. They expend more effort... they try over and over—through protektzia, and other means... and nothing helps. This is when they fall into despair. This all occurs when he thinks that he must achieve results. But if he knows that he doesn’t need to show any results—rather, he knows that anyone who tries on his end and davens to Hashem for His assistance, and then he tries again, and davens again...one day the door will open for him: Such a person has no reason to fall into despair!
The endeavor of teshuvah is likened to a person who is banging on a closed door, and the owner hasn’t yet opened the door. The solution isn’t to bang harder and harder until the door breaks—rather, one must come back and knock hour after hour, until the owner will eventually open the door. Teshuvah is the same way. We all wait for Hashem to open the door, as we say in the piyyut בתשובה לדופקי שער הפותח, He Who opens the door to those who knock in search of teshuvah. And we must be persistent in knocking on the door.
