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 70 - The Cosmic Two-Way Street: Why Taking Without Giving Never Works
The cosmic balance of give and take forms the foundation of all relationships—especially our connection with the divine. This powerful episode challenges the traditional notion of divine punishment, replacing it with a more nuanced understanding of natural consequences that flow from our actions.
When you put your hand in fire, you get burned—not as punishment, but as a consequence. When you maintain a healthy lifestyle, you increase your odds of living longer—not as reward, but as result. This paradigm shift transforms how we view spirituality, removing the dark, foreboding image of religiosity that has turned many away from exploring their faith.
The most profound insight emerges when examining relationships with our providers. While human providers might eventually withdraw support when repeatedly harmed, our divine provider demonstrates infinite patience. Even when we act contrary to divine principles, our hearts continue beating and opportunities remain available. This patience extends far beyond human capacity, yet doesn't negate the natural consequences of our choices. We see people living contrary to divine will who appear successful and wealthy, raising questions about fairness that the episode thoughtfully addresses.
At its essence, life operates as a two-way street. We cannot merely take without giving back, as our spiritual obligation is to emulate divine attributes—with giving being paramount. Those who focus solely on taking will discover this approach fundamentally misaligns with how the universe functions. True fulfillment comes from recognizing that divine will ultimately serves our highest good, creating a harmonious partnership rather than a relationship built on fear. What area of your life might benefit from reconsidering the natural consequences of your actions rather than viewing outcomes as arbitrary punishment?
Good morning everybody and welcome to the Trust Factor for Friday, tgif. Thank God it is Friday, but also I want to say please, God, make sure that the Jewish nation is safe from any retaliation from the corrupt, evil, wicked regime in Iran or a regime that has been so much so responsible for the death and destruction and terror attacks that have been happening through all of its proxies. They are the number one terror sponsor on planet Earth and they've sponsored all of these terror groups to come after not just the Jews in Israel, but anybody and everybody who stands for freedom and democracy and Western values freedom and democracy and Western values and who doesn't agree with their concept of Sharia law or Islamization of the world. What we're seeing now is unprecedented. God willing, hashem should strengthen the IDF and make sure that this campaign not only takes out their nuclear program, but takes out all of their leadership and restores freedom and liberty to the Iranian people, who are really genuinely. If you know the Iranian people, if you've met them and I know plenty of them they are amazing, amazing people with huge hearts and amazing minds, and they've been stifled and shut down by this corrupt, wicked regime for far too long. Let's move forward, my friends, and we're going to finish off this concept, hopefully, today, that we cannot hurt our providers and expect that there is not going to be a result Now.
Speaker 0:In the Jewish world, in the world of religiosity, you were raised believing in two concepts reward and punishment. I tend to want to modify that a little bit, and this is just me, so take it or leave it. My modification of it is that there is reward and consequence, not punishment. This is not a God that put us into this world in order to beat us into pulp, in order to destroy us and make our lives miserable. This is a God that wants to see us succeed. He gave you that user manual to tell you what you should do in order to succeed and to avoid failure. And if we implement the teachings in order to succeed, then guess what? We're rewarded with the results of our labor. We're rewarded with the results of our action. You do the commandments, you follow his instructions, you reap the benefits associated with them. Yeah, it's like anything else in life If you do good, you'll receive good. If you cook well and you learn how to cook a delicious meal, you take the time to be able to learn what the recipe is and how to cook properly and which ingredients should be mixed and which shouldn't, and how to cook specific ingredients, and you take the time to learn how to be a culinary master in the kitchen, then you can be assured that you're going to enjoy spectacular tasting meals. That's just a result of your efforts.
Speaker 0:It's the same thing over here. If you eat a well-balanced diet, if you don't indulge yourself in all of the worst things in the world and the things that we know are very, very bad for the human body, and you focus on eating the things that we know are very good for the human body and you eat again a balanced diet and live a healthy lifestyle, then you will increase greatly your odds at living a long, healthy life. That isn't a reward. That is a result of your actions. You can call it a reward, but really it's a consequence. You've done a great thing and you deserve to reap the rewards of that great thing. Now nobody's guaranteed anything, right, but you have increased your odds dramatically. Now the opposite is true. If I drive my car at 150 kilometers an hour and smash into a brick wall, god forbid I end up dead. That's not a punishment. That's a consequence of my action. If I put my hand in fire, I get burned. That is not a punishment, it's a consequence.
Speaker 0:If we follow his rules, we have consequences, good ones and bad ones. Right? That's the reality of this over here. It's the same with everything in life. Somewhere along the line, somebody painted a very dark picture of religiosity in God and said be careful, there's this thing called fire and brimstone and a lightning bolt's going to strike you from out of the sky if you do the wrong thing. And that really left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths when it comes to God and religiosity. And that's a terrible thing, because everybody understands consequence. Everybody understands that I have to be held accountable for my actions and the decisions that I make. It's very simple, right? Maybe you can argue that today's generation doesn't want to be held accountable. That I can understand. It's not necessarily just this generation. There are a lot of people in this world who want to run through it and not be held to account on anything that they do or are supposed to do and that they're not doing or that they are doing wrong. That's just the nature of humanity. But that's exactly why he gave us consequences, because you can't escape it. You simply cannot escape it. You're in sales. You want to make more money. Make more sales, you make more sales, you make more money. That's how it works. That's why I've said in the past if you ever want to see God's hand clear as day, start a business. Start a business where you can eat what you kill. You don't kill anything. You don't eat. You struggle for your next meal. That's how this world works.
Speaker 0:It is a result of this concept that we're talking about now, called cause and effect, and so how does that translate to where we're holding right now in the book? It translates because if I do something bad to that who is providing for me, whether human or God, the consequence is exactly the same. Now, a human being can write you off entirely. That is the biggest difference. If you have somebody who provides for you and you're constantly going against them and doing things that hinder your relationship with them, then it may not take long and it should not take long for them to realize this and make a choice to stop being your provider. It doesn't make sense. It becomes a one-sided relationship at best, but really it's a toxic relationship. It's toxic because they're doing good for you but you're doing bad for them. That's what's the definition, my friends, of a toxic relationship, the relationship that you have with your creator.
Speaker 0:He continues to give to you, even when you're going against him. He still pumps your heart and fills your lungs. He still gives you opportunity. He still puts money in your bank. He still wakes you up for another opportunity. He has unlimited patience. He has infinite patience. We know this. All of the attributes that we, as humans, have, he has only exponentially greater, only infinitely greater.
Speaker 0:So, yeah, you go against him and we see that. Just open your eyes. You see people who are living lives that go exactly counter 180 degrees, opposite of his will, and yet they're still walking around healthy, and some of them seemingly very happy and very successful, with money in the bank. And that just goes to show you that one has nothing to do with the other. How could it be that you have somebody who's leading such a decrepit lifestyle they're doing everything wrong and yet somehow they're worth millions of dollars, they've got it seemingly made, everything is set out for them, and the answer is one doesn't have anything to do with the other.
Speaker 0:First, that individual. First of all, we have no idea. There are many reasons that individual could have a lot of money even though he's not doing God's will. One of them could be that that person has been written off. We've said in the past God needs people in this world. They're not necessarily a part of this generation, but they're here to do something specific, and sometimes that specific thing is to be the tool in his hand when he needs somebody to execute his consequence on another individual who is well-intended. He needs somebody to enact his will and so he keeps people around, and sometimes that person receives money because God doesn't want to deal with them in the next world.
Speaker 0:We've said that their priority is this world. Their priority they've demonstrated time again is money and wealth and fame and fortune. God says you know what You've sold me for that. Take it, take it. But you know what happens after 120 years when you have an accounting to do. You've got no leg to stand on, you've got nothing. You've got no argument to come to me and say but why, god, why didn't you give me X, y and Z? Why didn't you open up my eyes? And his response to you will be that's not what you wanted. You were the kid, remember. We said you're the kid who chose the two Oreos over $10,000, because all you saw was the here and now. You didn't understand the value of the $10,000. It's the same idea, my friends, at the end of the day, this concept, to put a bow on it.
Speaker 0:If you want to gain the most from your creator and the relationship that you have with your creator, every relationship, to make it as sweet as it can be, it needs to be bi-directional, it needs to be a two-way street. It has to be give and take. We are not living in a world where you can only be a taker. We're living in a world where you have an obligation to be a giver if you're going to be a taker. How do we know that? Because our obligation is to mimic and to be as godly as we can, and his number one attribute is that he is here entirely to give. So we know that we have to give.
Speaker 0:If we're just taking, this world is not going to work out for you. This life is simply not going to work out for you. If you want to get this to basics, if you want him to beat your heart and fill your lungs and there's no guarantee how long he's going to do that for then you know, don't focus on his work, focus on everything else, listen to what the media is telling you to do and what the government's telling you to do and what TikTok influencers are telling you to do. If you want to gain every last drop of success out of this life, then focus on his will, which we've said a million times, is really your will. Have a spectacular Shabbat. May Hashem guard and keep safe every one of the Jews and the Israelis in Israel. Make sure that this war ends in complete, total annihilation of a corrupt, wicked, evil regime in Iran and that we should see a new era of peace in the Middle East. Be'ezrat Hashem. Have a spectacular Shabbat.
