The Trust Factor
A daily lesson that focuses on achieving unparalleled success in life using ancient wisdom in modern times.
We will be discussing critical concepts as they are laid out in the book Sha'ar Habitachon - The Gate of Trust. Written 1000 years ago, the author reminds us of the values and wisdom that have allowed humanity to thrive throughout history.
The concept of trusting in a higher power that exists purely for our benefit, puts us in the drivers seat with absolute confidence to achieve greatness.
Eliminate: Fear, Hatred, Anxiety, Depression, Jealousy, Greed...forever!
* Note that some terminology will be in the original Hebrew or Aramaic which I will always follow with the English translation.
The Trust Factor
Episode 66 - The Double-Dip Principle: How Serving God Serves You First
The Gate of Trust holds a transformative principle that has guided seekers for generations: "Make your will His will, so that He will do your will as if it is His own." This profound statement captures the essence of spiritual alignment that can fundamentally change how we navigate life's challenges.
Consider how our approach to spirituality has shifted over centuries. Where once most people recognized God's sovereignty and principles as the foundation for living, today many have strayed from this understanding. Yet returning to this wisdom offers exponential benefits for those willing to realign their priorities.
The parent-child relationship perfectly illustrates this dynamic. Just as parents urge children to eat vegetables despite resistance, knowing the long-term health benefits, God encourages us to follow commandments that promote our wellbeing. We resist, fixated on immediate gratification, while God—with infinite wisdom—sees clearly what truly benefits us. The commandments, both positive (charity, prayer) and negative (prohibitions against harmful behaviors), serve as a divine manual for avoiding life's pitfalls and accessing its greatest joys.
What makes this arrangement remarkable is its "double-dip" nature—every mitzvah brings both inherent rewards and additional divine blessings. Consider Shabbat observance, which creates an unparalleled 25-hour period of genuine disconnection from worldly distractions. No Wednesday board game night, however well-intentioned, can match this comprehensive reset that grants unfettered access to family, community, and Creator. The beauty only reveals itself through proper practice.
When we demonstrate commitment to divine priorities, God takes on our burdens. The stressors that normally consume us become His concern as He recognizes our sincere desire to grow. This reciprocal relationship transforms our experience of life's challenges and reveals the path to becoming our best selves. What spiritual practice could you prioritize today to begin experiencing this profound transformation?
Good morning everyone. It is Monday and we are continuing with the Gate of Trust. We said yesterday we were going to continue to talk about this concept. It's a very important fundamental principle, and we're going to spend at least another day talking about this. Here's how it goes Make your will his will, so that he will do your will as if it is his own. Let me repeat that. Let me repeat that. What does that mean, guys?
Speaker 1:In the past we've talked about this and you've worked on it so long that you've come to the point where you literally surrender all of the things in this world that make you crazy, and God knows there are plenty of them. There are a lot of stressors in this world that get us excited and bring us down and hold us back. There are so many things in this world that we are challenged with. And what God is telling us over here in this verse, guys, this verse carried me for years and decades. What he's telling us over here is he wants us to focus on the things that are important to him, which, ultimately, are the things that should be important to us, and once upon a time, guys, maybe a hundred years ago, no more than that, 200 years ago, 300 years ago, everyone on planet earth understood this concept. Most people were super religious, orthodox. This whole concept of conservatism and reform movements and secularism a lot of it is a relatively new concept. Once upon a time, not that long ago, everybody understood that there was a God and that he ran the show and that he had principles and that we operated according to those principles. Today, unfortunately, we have veered off of that path. We've strayed from that concept. Now we go back to it, our lives will be exponentially better because we will understand that there is a creator who runs this show and who has everything to give to us and, just like a loving parent, he knows what's good and what's bad for us.
Speaker 1:And just like I've given this analogy before in the past, if you have a child and you want your child to eat their dinner, you're constantly worrying that that child is only focusing on the meat. They're only eating their chicken or their meat. They're not eating their vegetables and you're constantly begging them please eat your vegetables, please just try your vegetables. And the kids are digging their heels in and the last thing that they want to do is eat their vegetables. Please just try your vegetables. And the kids are digging their heels in and the last thing that they want to do is eat their vegetables. They eat their meats, their proteins, and they're gone Right. And what do we do as a result? We bribe them. Oh, you want a new game for your PS5? Oh, you want to take the car or you want whatever it is.
Speaker 1:And kids I guess they're not that old anymore when they're driving the car, but still, the principle is that we bribe them in order to get them to do the right thing, right, because we know what's right and they don't. We've learned, we've made more mistakes in life than they have, and we have taken the time to learn a lot more in our older age and we have the wisdom that they don't. So we're constantly trying to get them to do the things that we know are good for them. My friends, it is exactly the same thing. God created this world. He is infinitely wiser than we are. He knows the difference between good and bad, right and wrong, with absolute clarity. We don't. Our waters are muddied. We have an evil inclination that is designed. His entire purpose is to drag us away from the good and make us focus on the bad. That, my friends, needs to be countered.
Speaker 1:And what God is telling us in this verse is he's saying very clearly please eat your vegetables. You want to borrow the car? Do the right thing, please. He's begging us. Do the mitzvahs, do the commandments. Why? Because he gave them to us in order for us to benefit from them.
Speaker 1:He understands that if we want to refine our character, if we want to become the best versions of who we could possibly be in this world and avoid the pitfalls that are strewn throughout the world, then he says just follow my Commandments. We have positive Commandments do a, do B, do C. Right, you should put on fillin when you pray. You should give charity. Right, you should eat kosher. There are certain things that are called positive Commandments. God says you want to live a happy, healthy, successful life? Do these things. At the same time, we have negative commandments right, you should not steal, you should not covet, you should not commit adultery.
Speaker 1:God is saying you want to avoid the pitfalls of this world? No problem, stay away from all of these things. Don't put the toaster oven next to the bathtub when it's plugged in. My friends, it's exactly the same thing. God is saying. I understand better than you will ever know, ever In your entire existence. You can have a hundred different existences in this world and you will still never know the things that God knows. So he's telling you I know, and therefore I gave you the manual. It's in there. Just read the thing, sit down and understand it. Get somebody to explain it to you if you don't understand it, which is kind of like what we're doing right now. Understand that God wants you to do the mitzvahs for you, not for him. It's a double dip, my friends.
Speaker 1:Every time we do the mitzvahs it's a double dip. Why? Because, just like we bribe our children and we say to them, we beg and we plead with them, do the right thing, and if you do, I'll get you a reward. I will give you a gift, a present, whatever it is that you're looking for, I will get you a new game for your PS5, right, whatever it is, I'll get you. It's a bribe. So the kid eats their veggies. We know that they're going to have better odds at leading a healthier life if they're eating a healthy, balanced diet and so, as a result of them doing the right thing for them, we're going to go buy them a gift. Same thing God says guys, please do the mitzvahs, do the commandments and as a result of that, I'll give you reward. I'll give you reward and we know that we get reward in this world and we get rewarded in the next world. But God says please, and some of the mitzvahs, in and of themselves, are the reward. In other words, we know very clearly cause and effect. We do the mitzvah, we win right.
Speaker 1:If you've never given charity before, which I'm sure everybody has, you understand that, the feeling that comes along with digging deep and supporting a family who can't afford to put food on the table. There are very few feelings on planet earth that will match that feeling of knowing that you've fed a family, knowing that you've given them a little bit of peace of mind, a little bit of comfort in a difficult time. Very difficult, very difficult to understand the beauty and the awesomeness of keeping Shabbat, the seventh day, taking it off and disconnecting from all of the craziness, the mayhem that goes on in the world, that's always pulling at your strings, always trying to get your attention, to distract you from the important things. It will do it seven days a week, 24 hours a day, my friends, if you allow it. But once you've incorporated the beauty of the mitzvah, of keeping the seventh day Shabbat, your life changes. You suddenly realize what's important. You suddenly have the opportunity to really disconnect. You say, okay, but we've got board game nights on Wednesday. That's what our family does. Our family plays board games every Wednesday night and it's fantastic. Okay, not detracting, that's very nice.
Speaker 1:But, my friends, if the creator of everything tells you that the day to do it on is Shabbat, the seventh day, which is Saturday, then I don't care what other day you're doing it on, it's simply not going to be as effective. And more than that, more than that I can assure you. I can assure you that there are distractions on Wednesday night's board games. There are many distractions.
Speaker 1:As much as you may wish to try and block them out, you and I know that simply does not happen. You do not have your child's full attention. You do not have a 24, 25 hour period of time where you can connect to your child without technology, without distractions, without people coming over and banging on your door and making requests of you. That simply does not happen. You have unfettered access to your children, to your spouses, to your family members, to your community members and to your creator to be able to grow. You don't know that until you start keeping it.
Speaker 1:I could tell you that as many times as I want to, until I'm blue in the face to try and convince you that keeping Shabbat is a beautiful thing. You won't understand it until you do it. And when you do it, you've got to do it properly. Once you've done it properly, then step aside, my friends, because you will never stop keeping Shabbat. But until we do it, we're like little children. We have no knowledge of what God is talking about. We're like little children who have no clue. We are uninformed and, as a result of that, we are not doing the commandments that are there for our benefit.
Speaker 1:My friends, if God tells you over here, make his will, your will, so that he'll make your will his will, what he's saying is when you start doing these spectacular things like keeping my mitzvahs, then he's going to take care of all the other things that come to distract you. He's going to take on all of your stressors because he sees you doing the right thing. He knows you want to distract you. He's going to take on all of your stressors because he sees you doing the right thing. He knows you want to come closer. He sees you want to have an improved life. He sees that you want to succeed and become the best version of you and impact those around you, and that's what he puts you here for.
Speaker 1:That's exactly what he puts you. So when he sees you doing it, he says okay, I got to step up here. So, as we said yesterday, yeah, if you're not doing those things, then if you're going against him entirely, he's still going to pump your heart, he's still going to fill your lungs with oxygen, he's still going to give you eyesight and hearing and senses and all those types of things, and he's still going to give you a job and put money in your bank. Why? Because he needs to give you and he's got all the time and patience in the world he needs to give you the opportunity to wake up and come around and start eating your vegetables. Have a spectacular day, my friends.
