From the shiurim on Kav Hashgacha Pratis
Bitachon is an element of emunah, and through it he is zocheh to achieve complete emunah. (Likutei Eitzos)
Bitachon and Speech
Part of cleaving to emunah is saying, about anything big or small that you want to do, that you will do it only if it is Hashem’s will. If someone is about to close on a business deal, he should first say: I trust in Hashem, Who could have opened the gates of Heaven to give me a sack full of money to provide for me, but He is doing it now through the guise of nature.
As Chazal tell us, Hashem’s blessing could come to a person even while he is sitting idle, but since the passuk says, “asher taaseh” – in all that you do – a person should do what he can and trust that this business deal is the circumstance that Hashem sent him to give him that which is set aside for him, as the Chovos Halevavos explains. If he made a profit, he should say, “I profited with the help of Hashem.” He should know that it is Hashem Who has given him the strength to do mighty things.
Likewise for the opposite: If something bad, or some loss, happened to him, then he should say, “This was coming to me from Hashem because of some sin that I did.” He should think about it until he finds a sin he has committed that matches the punishment he is enduring and should correct his behavior. He should not act like the fool, who, if he loses out in a deal, will then become stingy about giving tzedakah. Such a person is like one who is putting out a fire using straw. The fire dies down momentarily, but afterward it flares up even more. And he is like someone who is thirsty and quenches his thirst with salty water; it quenches his thirst for the moment, but afterward he becomes much more thirsty. Rather, he should check whether he sinned in some money matter and should return the money to its owner. Or perhaps he held back from giving tzedakah, and he should change to become someone who gives, and he should verbally confess his sin to Hashem so that he will be someone who has confessed his sin and resolved to correct his behavior from now on.
And likewise when he goes to do some type of business deal, he should say, “I am going to do this with the permission of Hashem yisbarach and for the sake of His Name.” And he should say a short tefillah:
Ribbono shel Olam, in your Holy words it says, “He who trusts in Hashem, kindness will surround him” (Tehillim 32:10); and it says (Nechemiah 9:6), “And You give life to every living thing.” Please give me the gift of Your kindness and bring blessings to my hands through this act.
(Shnei Luchos Habris, Shaar Ha’osios, 1)
Bitachon and a Fortress
Every person is being judged constantly, especially regarding his livelihood. The Zohar teaches (part 2, p. 170) that a person’s livelihood is as difficult to provide as the splitting of the sea, since most people are not worthy of receiving it, but Hashem provides it anyway. Therefore, one should never stop saying the aforementioned pesukim, both of which mention the Name Tzevakos – which alludes to the greatness of Am Yisrael and their struggle against the heavenly prosecutors, and both of which speak of bitachon, describing Hashem as our eternal Fortress.
(Be’er Moshe, Harav Hakadosh of Ozorov, Parshas Va’eira)
Verbal Recitation
The holy Rav of Menaskiz zt”l would say that this passuk was constantly on the lips of his rebbi Rav Meir: Hashem Tzevakos ashrei adam boteiach Bach – “L-rd of Hosts, fortunate is the man who trusts in You.” When he had to strengthen himself in bitachon, he would repeat this passuk several times, until his bitachon was strengthened.
(Bigdei Yesha)
To Instill It in the Mouth and in the Heart
Chazal are arousing us in this gemara to constantly strengthen bitachon not only in our hearts but also through verbal expression, which arouses the heart, so that we cleave to this middah of bitachon.
This is what we daven for each time we say, “Give a good reward to those who truly trust in Your Name, and place our lot with them forever....” We can explain the words, “those who truly trust in Your Name” as referring to a bitachon that is not only lip service, as it is the custom in the world to say, “b’ezras Hashem,” “iy”H,” and so on, even when one’s heart is not genuinely focused on the intention that everything will happen only with the help and desire of Hashem and not through our own actions. But we ask for siyata diShmaya to be counted among those who truthfully and wholeheartedly believe that everything is in Hashem’s Hands.
(Birkas Avraham)
Speaking Strengthens Us
It is said in the name of the holy Reb Mordechai Of Lechovitz zt”l: “I believe, and so I will speak” (Tehillim 116). “I believe” – why? “For I will speak with my mouth.” A person’s emunah is strengthened by his verbally expressing it again and again, and then he will be privileged to the blessing of “he who makes the effort to purify himself is granted assistance from Above.”
(Toras Avos)
Emunah and Speech
Emunah is dependent on a person’s mouth. We need to speak words of emunah. Thus, if a person stumbles in emunah, chas v’shalom, he should express ideas of emunah aloud, for this is an element of emunah, and through it he is zocheh to achieve complete emunah.
(Likutei Eitzos)
