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 107 - Square Pegs, Round Holes: Why Chasing Money Always Fails
Trust transforms everything - especially your approach to work and wealth. This profound episode unpacks a spiritual paradox that could revolutionize your career decisions and financial outlook.
We begin by examining how divine intervention often works contrary to our expectations. Like bitter waters sweetened by a log at Marah, salvation frequently comes through means that logically should cause harm rather than healing. This counter-intuitive principle reveals a powerful truth: when you trust completely, conventional limitations dissolve.
The heart of our discussion tackles the common mistake of pursuing industries solely for income potential. Many sacrifice happiness chasing careers they're unsuited for, believing certain professions are the only path to security or luxury. We challenge this mindset with ancient wisdom suggesting you should engage in vocations you're naturally suited for without excessive striving beyond basic needs.
Consider this reality: candy makers become billionaires while doctors struggle; plumbers build exceptional wealth while lawyers barely survive. Success isn't determined by industry but by alignment with your authentic path. The message becomes clear - abundance, when appropriate for your journey, manifests without extraordinary exertion when you maintain trust in divine provision.
Perhaps most illuminating is the comparison between divine guidance and parental wisdom. Just as loving parents place safety gates to protect toddlers learning to walk, obstacles in your path toward certain pursuits aren't punishment but protection from unseen harm. Our limited perspective - like an insect beneath a rock - cannot comprehend the eagle-eye view that sees all directions across time and space.
Ready to discover what industry truly aligns with your authentic self? Listen now and begin trusting the path uniquely prepared for you!
Welcome to the Trust Factor everybody, the podcast that guarantees your success when you implement its divine, age-old teachings. Welcome to Sunday, shavua Tov, wishing you a wonderful, successful week. We had an amazing Shabbat. It's time to get into it. My friends, I want to finish off what we talked about on Friday.
Speaker 0:We were talking about the effort that somebody who has really built himself on the level of trust and faith in his creator, what he has to do and his mindset and the efforts that he needs to make when it comes to his health, and he wraps that up nicely just by reminding us that God, throughout the Torah, gives example after example of where the nation was saved by something that went against the nature of what you would think would be needed to save them. In other words, you think that the cure is X. It's definitely not Y, because Y goes against the cure, but in fact it is Y exactly that comes to heal. Give you an example we were walking through the desert as we left Egypt and the nation was thirsty. There was no water at that point, and God brought them to a place called Marah, which means bitter, and in that place there was water, but the water was bitter. It wasn't drinkable. And what did they do in order to make that water sweet? They took a log. They took a chunk of tree of wood and they threw it into the water. What's wood got to do with sweetening the waters? Absolutely nothing. You would think it would contaminate it even further, but in fact it was that log exactly that caused the water to become sweet.
Speaker 0:What's the point, what's the idea that we take away from this? Is that we understand that nothing is beyond him. It is so much so in his hands that whatever you need will come to you, even if it goes against nature, even if it's the exact opposite of what you're being told or what you think you need in order to fix A or B. He's going to fix A or B with something that you would think and that most of humanity would think would cause more harm. You understand, that's his power. He is not limited by nature. He can take things that, in nature, are designed to hurt you and make them your savior. Your salvation can come from things. If you're relying on him, then those things will save you. If you're relying on nature, then those things will, in fact, harm you. So, my friends, bottom line when it comes to protecting your health and putting a roof over your head, and food in your fridge and money in the bank and cars in the driveway your basic necessities to be able to function in this day and age. You rely entirely and exclusively on God, even when it comes to healing. The doctors we know are just tools in the hands of the creator. We rely on him entirely. We make an effort. It's a reasonable effort.
Speaker 0:Now he goes into the second category, which comes to talk about additional income. We all know this very well. When you're having a difficult time, when you've got expenses that outweigh your income, when you are spending more than you're making and you're working hard and you're responsible with your money and you're doing the things that you need to do to make sure that you can live within your means, but still your means are just not enough and you need more ore or your means are enough, but now you want luxury. Now you want to do things that you were never able to do before. Right, everybody wants that and we're entitled to a little bit of luxury. We're entitled to be able to take a break and chill and take it easy. We're not supposed to make that our status quo. Work once in a while but otherwise be on vacation for 90% of our lives. You're supposed to work and be productive, but once in a while you want luxury. You want to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor, right? So he says over here, now he's going to discuss how do we approach this concept over here. Again, this should not come as any surprise to you guys. Let's get into it. From the book.
Speaker 0:He says the explanation of the second category, which consists of matters relating to a person's acquisition of assets, his sources of livelihood and his involvement in some occupation, be it commerce, a craft, transportation management or hired work, clerking or government employment, accounting contract. He goes into a whole bunch of different types of industries that you could be working in, in which people engage in order to amass money and indulge in luxuries. Okay, so what he's saying over here is are you going to look for an industry? Are you going to say what do I want to do for a living over here? Well, I know that industry X has potential to make more money than all the other industries and therefore I'm going to get into that industry because I want to make so much more money that I will have all of these luxuries. In other words, you're thinking to yourself where should I best expend my effort in order to be successful in business? Now, what does he say?
Speaker 0:The correct way of applying trust in God with regards to these matters is that a person should engage in the vocation that the Creator has prepared him for to the extent that suffices for the purpose of obtaining his essential sustenance and food, and to attain that which is sufficient for his other basic necessities, and he should not work harder in order to obtain luxuries. If the creator decrees for him to receive extra income beyond these basic necessities, then it will come to him without any additional effort or exertion on his part. Provided he trusts in God regarding the extra income, he should not seek additional avenues to obtain this extra income, nor should he rely on such avenues in his heart. What is he saying here? My friends? It's the same thing. We've talked about this about a month or so ago.
Speaker 0:Pick the industry that you are suited for. If you are not cut out to be a lawyer, don't spin your wheels. Don't waste your time. If you're not cut out to be an accountant, don't waste your time. If you're not fit for the medical industry, don't waste your time. Don't chase industries that historically have been proven to be able to generate more income okay, because God can give you an abundance of wealth, not just for your basic necessities but for all the other things that you need in your life. He can give you those through any industry. I've given you examples in the past. You can get into candy making and become a billionaire like Mars Company. You can get into plumbing and become a millionaire. I know plumbers that are massively successful, that own very large plumbing companies and are making truckloads of money. You can get into any trade and be massively successful. At the same time, you can get into any trade and become an average Joe and you can make your daily bread. You can have what you need to cover your expenses a little bit more, to fill up the bank for your rainy day or whatever it may be. You can have that by being in the trades and at the same time, you can be in the trades and not be able to make your month end. You understand it doesn't depend on the industry. The industry is just the tool, it is just the means.
Speaker 0:To the end, what he's saying over here is don't kill yourself, don't make yourself work harder than you have to. Don't try to force a square peg into a round hole. Why are you doing that? Because you're chasing money. Because you're chasing luxuries. You're a fool. Why are you doing that? Because you're chasing money, because you're chasing luxuries, you're a fool. If you want luxuries and money and it's supposed to come to you, you can do anything and this planet, as long as it is legit and is above board, it's a kosher business. You can do anything and God will make sure that you have your daily needs and if you need to have those luxuries to the extent that you want them, they will come. If they are bad for you, if they are a detriment to you and your spirituality and your health and success in this world, it doesn't matter how much effort you make, it doesn't matter how many jobs you take and in which industry it is. It simply will not come to you because his number one priority is you. His number one priority is your health. His number one priority is your success. That's what he's concerned about. He's not going to give you the things that are going to make you fail or cause you to have hardships unduly. If you're having hardships and they're coming from him, it's because that's what you need to deal with in order to be successful in this life. So that's the reality, my friends. That's how this runs. Now, there's always exceptions.
Speaker 0:Okay, again, we don't know what goes on in the other realm. We only know very, very little. We know barely anything about this realm. To know about that realm is an entirely different discussion, my friends. But we know that there is an accounting and we know that his goal, his focus, his concern is exclusively with us. And when I say us, I mean you, the individual that's listening. He has you on his mind 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from the day you were born until the day you die, and that applies to every single one of us, not as a collective, but as an individual. He knows what you need, he knows what you don't need, he knows how you will succeed and how you will fail, and he wants, just like any other loving father, to set you up for success. He does not want to put stumbling blocks in your way, unless those stumbling blocks are designed to save you from harm. Right, when we have kids walking around the house and they're toddlers and they're just starting now to learn how to walk, what do we? Do we put gates across the stairs? Why are we putting those gates right, those barriers? Why are we putting those obstacles in their way? It's not for our benefit, it's for their benefit. We don't want them falling down the stairs and hurting themselves.
Speaker 0:Now, if you didn't know anybody, you may come and say look how cruel this individual is. There's putting up barriers around his house. Child's not allowed there, child's not allowed over there. Ridiculous. The only reason those barriers are up are to save their child's life. At the same time, when that child starts to walk, that child will fall and the parent will eventually pull away from that child.
Speaker 0:Once that child starts taking its first steps, holding its parents' hands, eventually the parent lets go and takes a step back. And what happens? That child falls on its butt. It hurt itself, it starts crying. It's painful. Was it the father being mean? Was it the mother being mean to the child? Absolutely not. We're doing it for his benefit. It's causing him pain, yes, but that pain is good for them, because that child's not going to give up. They're going to get up again and again and again and they're going to fall as many times as it takes for them to get up and start walking and then start running. Okay, that's how it works.
Speaker 0:God is no different. If there's an obstacle in your way of making all those luxuries, he knows it's dangerous for you. You're going to hurt yourself. It's the equivalent of the stairs, the protection that he puts up the gate. Do not go past this gate, you will hurt yourself. He knows what you don't know, my friends. We think we know, but remember we know nothing. Right? We are the equivalent of the insect that lives under the rock that our entire universe is the rock. We don't even know what's beyond this little rock that's covering us. Right? He is the eagle that soars thousands of feet up in the air, can see forward, can see backwards, can see everywhere. Right, that's the analogy. The point is we are limited in time and space. In our knowledge. He knows everything, past, present and future. Rely on him and you will never lose. My friends, have a spectacular week. We continue tomorrow.
