Episode 76 - Your Panic Is Modern Idolatry!

Red and blue lights flash behind you and suddenly your mind starts bargaining. You rehearse the perfect line, you try to read the officer’s face, you plan how to regain control and you forget the One who actually runs outcomes. We take that everyday stress moment and expose a deeper spiritual pattern: modern idolatry can look like treating a human being as if they have power that Hashem does not. 

We also zoom out to the weekly rhythm that trains trust, with Shabbat as the rare time where spiritual growth feels different in your body and mind. The contrast matters because it reveals how quickly anxiety can take you out of the present, shrink your productivity, and rob you of joy. When fear pushes you into “what if,” you lose “what is,” and you start chasing relief from people, systems, and authority instead of building a real relationship with God. 

Along the way, we talk about why idol worship had such a strong pull throughout history, why even the Jewish nation struggled, and why God designs the world so we cannot simply depend on generous humans for everything. We also get practical about charity, self-worth, and why trying to placate an authority figure can backfire and create more damage in both this world and the next. The core takeaway is simple and challenging: the moment trouble appears, start talking to Hashem, release the illusion of control, and let trust replace panic. 

Subscribe, share this with someone who needs calm right now, and leave a review with the line that hit you hardest.

Transcript

Why Shabbat Changes Everything

How Idolatry Still Shows Up

The Ticket Stop As A Test

Letting Go Of Control In Court

Stress, Anxiety, And Losing The Present

Why God Limits Human Dependence

How Placating Makes It Worse

The Fix: Speak To Hashem Now

Share, Subscribe, And Connect

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Welcome to the Trust Factor Podcast, the only podcast that guarantees your success when you implement its divine age old teachings. Good morning, everybody. I hope you're having a productive week. We are closing in on Shabbat. It's only a couple days away, which means you've got a couple days left to be able to prove to yourself and to your creator that you're doing the necessary things to fight the negative trends in the world, that you're taking the teachings that are coming out of this podcast and implementing them in your life to make positive change, not just for you, but for those around you. We spent a couple days talking about yesterday. I told you about this scammer, this group of people who are amongst many who are out there trying to fool, undermine, deplete all of these good people who are out there trying to earn an honest living. And then along come these people who have clearly not overcome their evil desires. And because of that, they bring the worst out of humanity and into humanity. And so you've got a couple days left to be able to do the right thing, to be able to prove again to yourself and to your creator that you're doing the right thing, that you're growing, you're on a growth path. And then Shabbat will come tomorrow night, Friday night, and you'll have 25 solid hours between Friday night and Saturday night to be able to really up your game because that's where the magic happens. The rest of the week, there's no magic. There's very little. It's trailing off or it's growing based on where we are in the week. But when we get to Shabbat, it's all magical. It's all about real spiritual growth that you can't find any other day of the week. Try as you may. Doesn't matter what you do during the week that you do on Shabbat, it's simply not the same. You cannot equate the two. You could try, even the food that you eat. When you eat it on Shabbat, it tastes entirely different than when you eat it on a Wednesday. You just can't compare the two. And if you're not holding on that level yet, that's okay. You'll get there. It takes time. You have to get into Shabbat, you have to appreciate Shabbat for what it is. And once you do, it's inevitable. You won't be able to avoid it. The difference is tremendous. I want to get back to a couple of quick points and then we'll get back into the book. Number one, we talked about how it's possible, it's mind-boggling, that so many people can be running after false gods. So many people, you're talking about billions of billions of people across humanity for generations have been chasing after false gods, worshiping stone and rock and human beings, all this raw material, all these things that they're willing to so easily attribute all of creation to. Imagine that. I just finished creating a statue in my workshop out of wood. I just finished sanding it and polishing it, and now I'm going to bow down to it. And it's going to provide me somehow with all of my needs. It is the thing that created all of humanity and what sustains it. It's hard to imagine these concepts, but I want you to know that we're not immune. Jewish leaders throughout history, including King Solomon, were guilty of worshiping idols. It was a very powerful draw for human beings throughout all of history, including the Jewish nation. You know about the golden calf. Not long after we heard God's voice, it doesn't get worse than that, my friends. We heard his voice booming. He gave us the first two commandments with his own voice. And not long after that, we are worshiping a golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai. Do you understand just how powerful of a draw this is? It's not something that we can look back at the other nations now and point our finger and laugh. Absolutely not. We understand that it is a powerful draw and that we were very much guilty of the very same thing. Until An Sheikh Nesset Tagdullah, the men of the great assembly had to come together and pray to be able to have this desire removed from the Jewish nation. And in fact, that's what happened. God removed this desire. And that's the only reason why we can look back now and think that's kind of silly. But my friends, we were there. Some of the greatest Jews that ever lived were guilty of the very same thing. So that's why when you pull over, what's the connection to the police officer when you're pulled over on the side of the highway and you find yourself pleading, you find yourself sweet talking, this state trooper to try and do whatever it takes to get you off that ticket, you're worshiping an idol, my friend. It's exactly what you're doing. When you think to yourself that the person who you're standing before is going to have the power to do something for you that Hashem cannot, you are worshiping idols. It may not be in the classic sense, but is certainly a form of idol worship. We have to be cognizant of that. Even when you're standing in front of a judge in the Supreme Court of Canada or the US or whatever country you're in, you're standing in front of the highest authority, you have a panel of judges who look very serious and very stern and are very knowledgeable and very well paid, and they can determine your fate, seemingly. If you're standing in front of them and all you're thinking about is how do I appeal to their senses? What can I do to persuade them? You're thinking incorrectly. The bigger the challenge, the more you have to let go of your sense of control, your desire to placate and just turn back to your creator. That, my friends, is the only place where you're going to find salvation. It's the only place where you're going to find it's just like a parent. Again, how many times do we go back to that? You tell me, is there a human being on planet Earth that will drop everything at the drop of a hat and run to your aid like a parent would? The answer is no. Obviously not. There is not an individual in the world that will do for my children what I am prepared to do for my children. And I am made of flesh and blood. I'm limited in scope. If I have to suffer an illness because I don't want my child to, I would gladly take on that illness. If I have to go and fight a lawsuit in place of my child, I would happily do that. Not to say that it's a good thing in a human world, in a material, physical world, because there are lessons in all that, but the principle remains. I as a person of flesh and blood with limited abilities, even the limited ability to love, there is nobody in the world that would do more for my children than me or my wife. And so the same thing is happening here, only infinitely greater. And the difference is, while I can only control so much, there's nothing that I can do to control deadly diseases. There's nothing that I can do to control the outcome of a superior court justice. But the creator can and does every single day, every millisecond of every day, he controls outcomes. So if you want the outcome that you desire, go to him. That means start talking to him when you see the red and blue lights. That means start talking to him when you get the notice that you got to go to court. That means start talking to him when things start unraveling in business or when your boss calls you in for a meeting or all these other things that happen to us throughout our days. Start talking to him right when the problem arises. In a way that you say to him, Listen, Hashem, I'm not terrified. I'm not scared at all, because I know that I've got you at my back and I know that you're going to carry me through this. And most importantly, I know that whatever the outcome is going to be, it's absolutely divine. It's perfect. It cannot be any better than what you are going to do for me. When you go in that way, my friends, not only does the outcome become what it should be in the best version of what it should be, but you relieve yourself of all the associated stress. You relieve yourself of all of the anxiety that could easily come with every one of those scenarios that I've mentioned. And it is precisely that stress and that negativity and that anxiety that causes us the illness, that causes us to lose out on the joy in life, to miss out on all these opportunities, to be hyper-focused on the negative and to not be present, to be everywhere else but where we are. That's what it is. It's the stress and the anxiety. When you're so busy worrying about the what ifs that you're not enjoying the what is, you've lost out in life. And that's what happens. That's what they're designed to do. That's what fear and panic and anxiety is designed to do, to take you out of the present. Because when you're not present, you're not productive. When you're not here and now, you're not being the best that you can be. You're not doing the things that you want to do. You can't do them. And if you are doing them, the extent to which you're doing them is tiny. It's minuscule compared to what you could be doing and what you could be achieving. So let's just put a pin because I think we're coming down to the end here with this uh state trooper. And what does it say? It says, why doesn't God want us praying to other people or appealing to this state trooper or to any man or human being that we attribute as being a God? And the answer is because if we walked around all day long, being provided for by other people, by human beings, flesh and blood, then we would come to think that we don't need God, that we could rely on Joe or Steve or Mike or whoever it is who's constantly giving me my needs. He's constantly supplying me with whatever it is that I provide. If I had that 24 hours a day, seven days a week, if all I needed to do was ask of a person and receive, then I would effectively be praying to him. He would be my God. The same way I need to pray to my creator. I'm praying to Joe. Joe, I really need your help. I really need you to step up. I need money, I need help, I need you to do for me. No problem. I've got a contact at the hospital, I can put you in touch. The best oncologists, the best doctors, I got you back. It's not a problem. How much you need? Here's some money. Let me know when you run out. If you have, I don't know many people that have that. I mean, unless it's a parent of yours. But if you do have that and you're relying on that, you have a real problem. And that's why Hashem designs it, so that the opposite is true, that people who have that money will hold on to it very tightly. They're not running around handing it out. And even when they are, when they're doing it through charities and foundations, it's all vetted. It's all made sure to know that you absolutely need it and that you can utilize it, and it's designed to get you through the challenge that you're getting through so that you can get back on your own two feet. That's the right way to give charity. The right way to give charity is not to support somebody so that they don't have to work for a living. On the contrary, you all know the old adage, right? That you give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, you teach a man to fish and you feed him for life. So the whole principle is that we need to teach somebody, we need to get them on their feet, we need to give them the opportunity to be productive earners in society, to give them the sense of self-worth. And then when they need Hashem, when they need God, they can start to foster that relationship, to ask and receive from Him. That's the right way. So here's another even amazing idea that I think we're going to close out this state trooper story with. That when most people who fail at this test find themselves trying to placate the police officer at all costs, what ends up happening? They get themselves in more hot water because they've put their power in that state trooper's hands. So now the state trooper takes advantage of that and punishes them even more. That story that could have ended quickly becomes even worse. And then when they recognize that, when they see they've failed in their attempt to placate this police officer, what do they do? Just like the old Italian fellow I was telling you about? They start flying off the handle. You're just trying to fill your quota. At my expense, loads of people are going a lot faster than I am. Why did you choose to pick on me, right? Aren't there other crimes out there that you could be solving and working on that you have to waste your time with me? And you know what you're doing? You're compounding your problems in two worlds, in this world and in the next. How are you compounding your problems in this world? I just finished telling you. You've tried to placate him, he recognizes that he's insulted, you've insulted his intelligence, and now he drops the hammer on you. So you've lost even more in this world where you could have gotten off with a warning, you're getting off with a series of tickets, and it's going to hurt. How do you make your life worse in the next world? By attacking the police officer. Every attack, every time you come at him, it's another transgression. Do you understand? People who are foolish and cannot overcome their evil inclinations will end up compounding their problems. So now you went from a situation that was handcrafted by your loving father to be able to help you fix, resolve a problem in your life because you've done something bad, you've transgressed, we all have. He sets up a wonderful opportunity for you to get your hand tapped, not even slapped, just tapped. And what do you do? You blow it up, you destroy that opportunity. You take it and you turn it on its head. You actually use it to your detriment by attacking the police officer. You're piling on additional transgressions. Do you know what's going to happen? One day, my friend, you're going to have to pay for those too. It's all compounding. It's the wrong approach. Stop. If you find that you're like this, then start working on yourself immediately and do the things that are necessary to make sure that you don't fall into this trap. And the right way to do that is to immediately, as soon as the opportunity presents itself, start talking to your creator. Recognize where it's coming from. As soon as you do that, everything changes, my friends. Trust me, I do it every single day and it works. Just do it. Have an amazing day, my friends. We'll continue tomorrow. Thank you for spending time with us on the Trust Factor Podcast. If you've heard something today that moved you, save this episode and share it with someone who might need to hear it. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss upcoming conversations that challenge, empower, and uplift. And if you're on social media, connect with us. Leave your thoughts. Drop a quote that resonated with you. Hashtag the TrustFactor Podcast. Until next time, keep growing in your trust and keep living with purpose. I'm Jesse Revivo, and this has been the Trust Factor Podcast. Thanks for listening.