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 138 - The Spiritual Paradox: Why God Rewards Accidental Good
What happens when someone tries to harm you but accidentally does you a favor instead? Does God reward them for the unintentional good deed? The answer might surprise you.
Diving into the spiritual mechanics of divine reward, this episode explores how God recognizes the positive outcomes of our actions, even when our intentions miss the mark. At our core, we each carry a divine spark—a piece of godliness breathed into humanity at creation. This spiritual reality means God always gives us the benefit of the doubt, recognizing that somewhere deep within us exists the capacity for goodness.
The biblical story of Balak and Bilaam perfectly illustrates this principle. When these adversaries attempted to curse the Jewish people during their desert journey, God transformed their curses into blessings—blessings still recited in Jewish communities today. Remarkably, Balak received the eternal reward of having a Torah portion named after him, despite his harmful intentions. This reveals the generous nature of divine justice that acknowledges positive outcomes regardless of initial motives.
We also explore the crucial distinction between spiritual and worldly matters. While God has given clear moral instructions—"a good deed will always be good and an evil deed will always be evil"—worldly decisions are shrouded in uncertainty. In a "world of lies" where truth must be uncovered, what seems beneficial today might prove harmful tomorrow. This uncertainty in material matters underscores why we should seek divine guidance for earthly decisions while taking personal responsibility for our spiritual choices.
Ready to discover how this understanding can transform your perspective on divine reward and spiritual growth? Listen now, and join us tomorrow as we continue exploring the trust factor that guarantees success when implemented in your life.
Morning. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Trust Factor, the podcast that guarantees your success when you implement its divine teachings. Yesterday we talked about the fact that God will give you a reward for your actions. Even when you have a bad intention, even when you've gone out of your way to hurt somebody and it ends up that you've done them a favor, you've done good by them. God rewards you for that good and you say to yourself what sense does that make? The guy came to hurt him. If he could have inflicted maximum damage, he would have inflicted maximum damage. Why is God rewarding him? Because somehow the turn of events worked out in the individual's favor and it didn't end up hurting him. It ended up benefiting him.
Speaker 1:So you're going to give this criminal a reward? And the answer is yes. Why? Because the same applies, like we've said, god knows who you are on an intimate spiritual level. You have divinity inside of you. When god created adam, he blew into his nostrils the soul of life. That soul was a part of God. We have godliness inside of us and God says I'm giving you and will always give you the benefit of the doubt because you have me inside of you. You have godliness.
Speaker 1:So, even if you plan and you attempt to come and do something that you're not supposed to do, it doesn't work out. God does not punish you for that. And better than that you're not supposed to do, it doesn't work out. God does not punish you for that. And better than that. If you've tried to do bad and it turns out good, in his love for you, he gives you the reward, knowing in your soul that somewhere deep down, ultimately there is good, and you would have appreciated and accepted a good outcome for this individual, even though initially your intentions were bad. How do we see that in the Torah? I'll give you an example. The Jews were leaving Egypt, we were set free from slavery and we were walking on our way to receiving the Torah and then, ultimately, to the land of Israel. And on our way we're passing through foreign territories and people are very hostile, nations are not allowing us to be able to pass safely and, as a result of that, we are forced into situations where we have to do battle. And we are winning these battles because we've got god at our back. God is running the show and he is protecting us and giving us victory after victory over our enemies, the people who are trying to bring harm to us, and the word is spreading. It's spreading fast and wide. People are getting the message that this nation has got it their back.
Speaker 1:You got to remember back then everybody was into paganism. It was all kinds of gods. They would worship anything and everything the moon, the star, the skies, the clouds, the fire, the wind Everything was worshipable. They didn't really have one solid god. If they wanted success in health, they would pray to one god. If they wanted success in marriage, they would pray to another god. If they wanted a long life, they would pray to another god. That's the way it was before the first structured religion, that being judaism. That came along and god gave us his commandments in front of millions of witnesses. The whole world understood that god gave over that torah. How do we know? Because jethro moses's father comes after the torah was given and says to moses we've all heard what God has done for the nation. We all know what happened, that you guys received the Torah. So now the nation is walking through the desert and they get word that this nation has found the real God, the one true God, and that God is blazing a trail for them and destroying the enemies in that nation's way.
Speaker 1:One nation, moab, run by an individual named Balak, decides I'm going to stop these people once and for all. I understand that I can't beat them physically because they've already gone and destroyed mightier nations than me. I'm not going to be successful fighting traditional warfare with them. So what do I need to do? They're a spiritual nation. They've got God at their back, so we need to bring them down spiritually.
Speaker 1:And where he goes is to a prophet, a non-Jewish prophet, by the name of Bilaam. Bilaam comes in order to curse the nation. Balak spends a lot of money to be able to get this guy to curse the nation. And even though God tells him do not curse, you're only going to say what I tell you to say he goes anyways and he tries from multiple different locations. Because it's not working, he can't come to curse this nation. And ultimately, what happens? In his attempt to curse the nation, balaam actually blesses the Jewish nation, blesses us with a blessing that we still say today in every Jewish community. They'll say today in every Jewish community.
Speaker 1:And what's the reward? The reward for Balak, who paid the money, who went out of his way to destroy God's chosen nation. If he could have. He would have, god says, because he ended up doing something good by blessing my nation, even though it wasn't his intent. What was Balak's reward? He an entire torah portion named after him. An entire chapter, an entire parsha of the torah is named balak for eternity. That's our instruction manual for life. That is the only divine document on planet earth. That is an eternal document. That existed even before creation, and balak gets his name in that torah. Think about the reward that came by. Somebody who was not part of the nation and who tried to do bad and failed and had the nation blessed instead, ends up getting such a tremendous reward. What's going to be by us? What's going to be by the job by god's beloved nation? When we do something and it works out as a blessing for the individual, we are going to get equally great reward. That is the loving god that we have. Now we're going to continue and he separates.
Speaker 1:One more thing we said yesterday that there is a difference. We can't rely on God to put us in situations where we're going to do the commandments, or that he's going to avoid for us the pitfalls, the sins. No, that's our obligation. He told us what they were, he told us what to do and what to avoid. It is our obligation to do that work, to get up and find those opportunities and do them.
Speaker 1:When it comes to worldly matters, however, we said no. We have to rely on God to point us in the right direction, to choose for us in many cases. Why? Because we simply don't know. I don't know which industry is going to yield really good returns. I don't know which office, surrounded by which co-workers, I should be at. God knows where I'm going to yield really good returns. I don't know which office, surrounded by which co-workers, I should be at. God knows where I'm going to have less conflict. God knows where I'm going to thrive more, in what environment. And if I can rely on him to be able to set my path in that direction so that I end up not having as many challenges, then I should rely on him, as opposed to the mitzvahs, where he already said this is what you should do and this is what you shouldn't do when it comes to material worlds. We don't know. So, really, we have to pray for him to help us.
Speaker 1:He brings another example and he says furthermore, worldly matters are different than matters of spiritual matters. Why, he says in worldly matters, a means of endeavor that appears at first to be positive can sometimes turn out to be negative, whereas one that appears negative may turn out to be positive. However, regarding commandments and transgression, it's not so, for neither the negative nor the positive among them will ever change its status. You understand, in matters of material world, let's say, god forbid. Somebody has an illness, somebody gets diagnosed, and now there are multiple methods of treatment, there are multiple choices and there are multiple providers of those treatments. You can get treatment locally, in your own backyard. You can travel the world to try and find the most novel or the most experienced medical practitioners to be able to administer these treatments. And you still have to choose among these treatments. You have many choices to make. It doesn't say in the torah if god forbid, you have x disease, then you should choose y treatment. It doesn't.
Speaker 1:We know that we need to go out and seek treatment, but which one isn't necessarily known to us. Some treatments we might perceive as good, but in reality they are toxic and they can do more harm than good. Remember, the medical industry is always learning, they're always evolving, they're always coming up with new technologies. They figure out, sometimes too late, that something didn't work and cause more harm than good. That happens far too often, my friends. We've seen that not that long ago. A lot of things that they come up with and they say are good ultimately end up being bad. But you know what? The damage is already done. So the reality is we don't know, we have no idea, and sometimes even the medical world doesn't know. It's a lot of trial and error, depending on the situation and the crisis. And so here we are.
Speaker 1:God is saying it could be that what you think is good today for you is not really good. It might actually be bad. You don't know, especially because we said that this is ulama sheker alma de shikra, a world of lies. We are living in a world where we have to investigate. We have to expose reality and truth. That's our job.
Speaker 1:So the insinuation is the understanding is that if our job is to expose truth, that means the truth is hidden and we have to look for the truth. So we need his help. We can't do it on our own. We simply don't know many of the truths and the falsehoods that surround us. We don't know, so we have to rely on God. What might seem good today might be bad tomorrow and vice versa. We have really no idea, but a good deed will always be good and an evil deed will always be evil. You don't need any help in determining what is and what isn't. It's already been laid out for us. And if you don't know it, my friends, there are plenty of orthodox rabbis who are ready and waiting to be able to tell you what you should do all day long and what you should avoid doing if you want to achieve massive levels of success. My friends, have a spectacular day. We'll continue tomorrow.
