What really is the question? Let us see the sixth year’s yield. If it is sufficient for three years, why is the individual questioning Hashem? If it is insufficient, what response are we giving to him? The commentators respond with various approaches to this obvious question. The Alter M’Novardek, zl, offers a powerful insight into the concept of bitachon, trust in the Almighty, which sheds light on the pesukim. The individual of no faith does not wait until the sixth year to question Hashem. He does not wait patiently until the last minute, anticipating a cure, a livelihood, an answer to his problems. He is anxious from the beginning, even before there is anything to fear! Indeed, the faithless begin asking, “What will we eat in the seventh year?” from the very beginning -from the first year!
Our response is simple. “Do not worry, trust that Hashem will deliver a triple yield during the sixth year.” Indeed, he who waits patiently, trusting in Hashem, will have ample produce to sustain his family for three years. His faithless counterpart, however, begins hoarding his grain from the first year because his inability to trust in Hashem does not permit him to believe that he will have sufficient food. Indeed, he who does not have bitachon will truly not see the blessing of the sixth year. He has chosen to live by the laws of nature and will, therefore, be sustained by “nature.” He thinks that he has succeeded in foiling the ways of Hashem. He, unfortunately, does not realize that had he waited patiently, he would have been sustained by Hashem without having to undergo the worry and anxiety he caused himself to experience during the course of these past six years.
The greatest nisayon, test, comments Horav Moshe Schwab, zl, is to maintain bitachon. We must trust that all obstacles will vanish in due time – if we believe in Hashem. The decision to release ourselves from the pressures of our natural tendency to worry is the greatest nisayon. The Baal Shem Tov says that fear creates walls around us that bar the light from shining through. Indeed, we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Our trust in Hashem will sustain us through what may seem to be terrible times. We can probably sum it up best with a profound quote from the Sefer Hamiddos, “Death is experienced only once, but he who fears it dies each minute.”
