Guys, I hope you're beginning to appreciate the incredible journey that we're taking here, literally opening up the treasures of the world. In the current section of our Transform Your Bitachon series, we've so far explored two passages where we learned in the Midrash on Tehillim, as well as the passage from the Zohar HaKadosh, that if one is to place their absolute reliance on Hashem, that Hashem will for sure send their salvation, there is nothing that can get in the way of those plans. And again, the type of bitachon we are learning about here is not just to know that Hashem can send my salvation, but rather to rely on Hashem to such an extent that He will send my salvation without a shadow of a doubt.
We now move forward to the next passage we're going to be seeing, and this is a passage from Rabbeinu Yonah to Mishlei (3:6), where Rabbeinu Yonah writes, “Besides for the actual reward we will receive for trying to be on the bitachon journey, which is actually greater than anything you can comprehend, greater than the heavens or anything else” - Rabbeinu Yonah is teaching us right at the beginning of this statement, that don't forget, the main reward of bitachon is just being on the bitachon journey. Yes, as we're going to see, if you have absolute bitachon in Hashem, you will receive your salvation. It's not that I know that maybe Hashem can send my salvation. If you have absolute bitachon, you will receive your salvation, as we'll see soon. However, he's teaching us something even more fundamental and important than that, and that is that if you are working to be on the bitachon journey, that reward is greater than anything you might be hoping to receive in this world, because the reward that will be due for us in the next world, just for our making an effort to try to grow in our bitachon, is way greater than anything that this world has to offer.
And as we've explored previously from numerous Torah passages, if you imagine for a moment the greatest pleasure possible in your imagination, and imagine that pleasure continuing for 120 years straight without any pause, as the Sefarim teach us, one split second of the experience that we are due to receive in the next world for the reward of our mitzvos, is way greater than an entire lifetime of constant pleasure, just to appreciate what that means. Now, when we are dealing with bitachon, which is the ultimate mitzvah, can we only imagine how great the reward for bitachon is going to be.
But now we continue in Rabbeinu Yonah's passage, where he says, “besides for the reward that you're going to receive, which is greater than anything else that this world has to offer, when you apply bitachon in Hashem, reliance on Hashem, that I am in a predicament, I need to come out of it, and the only true source of reliance I have is Hashem, you will succeed in that action, that you have remembered Hashem, and you have remembered that the result is completely not in your hands whatsoever.
When we are on the bitachon journey, and we choose to place our bitachon, our reliance not on myself, nor on another individual, but rather absolutely and exclusively in Hashem's hands, says Rabbeinu Yonah, you will be successful in this situation. Rabbeinu Yonah does not say, you will definitely receive tremendous reward in the next world, but hey, just remember that you might not get exactly what you want in this world, because Hashem has many considerations, and maybe it's not good for you, or maybe you don't deserve it, and the like. Rather, Rabbeinu Yonah says, yes, the ultimate reward is that you're going to receive tremendous reward in the next world, way greater than anything this world has to offer.
Meaning, if somebody has an illness, although one might see recovery from this illness as a tremendous reward, however, in truth, that reward pales in comparison to the true reward one will receive in the next world for their practicing of bitachon. However, in addition to that, Rabbeinu Yonah is teaching us that if you are to place absolute reliance on Hashem, not only will you receive tremendous reward in the next world, but you will for sure receive your salvation in this world, which means to say, you will for sure recover from the illness that you are going through. With the help of Hashem, let's continue this incredible journey together, and transform our bitachon.
