I took refuge in You, O Hashem; I will not be shamed forever; rescue me with Your righteousness.
(Tehillim 31:2)
Even without my praying, rather, solely because I took refuge in You, because of this alone I know that I will not be shamed forever; not in this world, from physical suffering, nor in the World to Come, from the sufferings of the soul. I will not even need to ask this of You, rather, You will rescue me with Your righteousness – as a form of kindness, without any diminishment of my merits. The reason You’ll do this is in the merit of my taking refuge in You, even without my praying. (Alshich; ibid)
We see from here that one who places his trust in Hashem is assured he will not be let down even without praying to Hashem. This applies even regarding his future in the World to Come, which is based upon his level of service of Hashem. How can this be?
In truth, this question can be asked regarding trusting Hashem in matters of this world as well, as Chazal (Bava Kama 50a) teach us: Rav Chanina said: If a man says that the Holy One, blessed be He, is lax in the execution of justice, his life shall be outlawed, for it is stated: He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are judgment (Devarim 32:4). How, then, can it be that Hashem allows our bitachon to result in us not being ashamed? Is that the execution of justice?
Perhaps the answer to the above questions can be found in the closing words of the Alshich above: You will rescue me with Your righteousness – as a form of kindness, without any diminishment of my merits. The reason You’ll do this is in the merit of my taking refuge in You, even without my praying. These words are hard to understand for if, “You’ll do this is in the merit of my taking refuge in You,” then how will it be, “without any diminishment of my merits?”
It seems that the very act of trusting in Hashem, when one is bereft of his own merit – which is the purest and most difficult form of trust in Hashem – is in and of itself meritorious enough for a person to truly deserve Hashem’s salvation. For this reason, Hashem’s salvation will not diminish his other merits, and even in matters of the World to Come he will not be let down!
Other parts to this series: Inspiration in Bitachon
