Hashem. If a person properly appreciates the kindness of Hashem to begin with, he won’t need to experience the troubles that bring him to this recognition.
The same applies to our inyan. A person doesn’t need to go through the ותחבולות עצות in order to see the light. He can simply reflect upon how many other people have tried the ותחבולות עצות and it didn’t work out for them. This is the greatest proof that what they did wasn’t hishtadlus, because hishtadlus works! Hishtadlus doesn’t make things happen; it makes a person better serve Hashem, and automatically he will succeed.
When We Make Calculations Instead of Focusing on the Truth
When a person sees that he is, chas v’shalom, not successful, he should reflect: What am I not doing properly? One person wastes time at work, another person says lots of lashon hara during the course of his day at work... and then they conclude that they’re not successful because Hashem probably wants them to invest their money into some risky investment. Why are you drawing such drastic conclusions? What makes you think that this is what the Ribbono shel Olam wants?
This person is about to invest 100,000 dollars into a scheme, he’s ready to buy lottery tickets to create a vessel for the blessings to come... but honestly, is this what is lacking here? Is this the likely reason he wasn’t successful? Or is it perhaps more likely that it has to do with a lack of proper hishtadlus, i.e., to fulfill his mission more accurately?
Before taking drastic measures and drawing extreme conclusions, check to see if you’re fulfilling your mission properly. How many people determine that it’s okay to discuss the news on the cheshbon of their employer—something that often entails lashon hara and rechilus to boot—and then they go off on a rampage of ותחבולות עצות, as though they have already exhausted all regular hishtadlus, and they must now do something extraordinary. No! You must simply get on board a new way of looking at the world. It may be difficult in the beginning, but in the end it is sweet. Everything will make sense.
If You’re Looking for Eitzos, You Will Experience Pain
The Heiliger Ruziner once explained the words of Tehillim (13:3), עד יומם בלבבי יגון בנפשי עצות אשית אנה, how long must I set schemes within myself, my heart is melancholy even by day. So long as the person sets schemes, he searches for ותחבולות עצות, he will always be melancholy and sad. But when a person follows the proper modes and attitudes, as the Chovos HaLevavos teaches us, he will find an answer to the melancholy—as the kappitel concludes: בישועתך לבי יגל בטחתי בחסדך ואני, My heart will rejoice in Your salvation.
A Torah Yid knows that even if things didn’t yet materialize as he would have wished, the answer to is to dig in on his bitachon. As Chazal tell us, “If one sees that he davened and wasn’t answered, he should daven again.” And this must be done with the same serenity and calm as the first time. The Torah Yid isn’t angry or resentful that his tefillah wasn’t answered in the way that he would have liked. I will daven again, and again I will reflect on how I can better execute my mission. I will always walk calmly in the ways of hishtadlus, and not in any other ways. If it is my mission to go in other ways, and I see that this is where I am being led from Above, I will do so in a way of hishtadlus.
The Ultimate Test: How Am I Doing My Hishtadlus
How can we know, when taking an action, whether it falls under ותחבולות עצות or the necessary and proper hishtadlus? Of course, every situation is different. But in general, when we see that this is the way we’re being led from Above, this is a sure sign that we’re on the path of hishtadlus.
Sometimes, we see that we’re sent suggestions from Above. The Ba’al Shem Tov says that if a person hears a conversation between two people discussing something that has relevance to him, it is a sign from Above. People constantly see signs of being led from Above in a certain direction.
Where Is My Heart?
But the really important barometer is for a person to reflect: Where is my heart as I am engaging in this measure? When a person is about to engage in an action and he’s unsure whether it falls under hishtadlus or ותחבולות עצות, he should check to see if he’s doing it serenely and calmly or if he’s doing it only to escape his current circumstances.
And one should discuss the matter with the Ribbono shel Olam! Ask for humility. Ask for help. Ask for guidance as to whether or not this is the right move. And if one sees that the path didn’t get him anywhere, he comes back to the Ribbono shel Olam and talks it over again. And of course, one can always discuss it with an ehrliche Yid, a yerei Shamayim and ba’al bitachon.
In this way, we will surely all merit to perform all our actions and undertakings with the proper emunah.
