Welcome to Daily Bitachon . We are continuing with pesukim from Parashat Ekev that contain powerful bitachon lessons. We are now up to: וְיָדַעְתָּ עִם לְבָבֶךָכִּי כַּאֲשֶׁר יְיַסֵּר אִישׁ אֶת בְּנו ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ מְיַסְּרֶךָ / Know in your heart that just like a man chastises his son, Hashem your God chastises you This follows the earlier pesukim that spoke about the Manna , about the clothing, and about remembering how God took us through the desert. According to many, this is a positive mitzvah - to remember and know in your heart how God chastises us like a father chastises his son. Rabbenu Yonah includes this in the all-encompassing mitzvah of remembering the forty years in the desert, and this is one aspect of it. The SeMaG ( Sefer Mitzvot Gadol ), Mitzvat Aseh 17, learns from here that there is a positive commandment called Tziduk HaDin /to accept upon ourselves any of God's justice even when it is difficult. He gives an example: Sometimes people do teshuvah , but afterward, things do not go as well as they did beforehand. When this happens a person must tell himself that this is for his own good. Before doing teshuvah , God was paying him off in this world. After doing teshuvah , God is healing him to prepare him for a better Olam Haba. When someone questions God's challenges, the SeMaG cites a pasuk in Hoshea where God says: אֲנִי יִסַּרְתִּי / I was giving them yissurim . חִזַּקְתִּי זְרוֹעוֹתָם /I was strengthening their arms. (This is like when a trainer asks you to lift heavier weights to build your muscles). וְ עָלַי יַחְשְׁבוּ רָע /And they think badly of Me. Rav Ades tells the possibly fictitious story of a man who was a new immigrant to Eretz Yisrael, coming from a poorly developed country. He had severe stomach pains and went to the hospital. They told him he did not have insurance and had to join Kupat Cholim , the public health insurance. Once he became a member they could help him. He joined, came back, got checked, and was told he needed emergency appendix surgery. They operated, and he woke up connected to all kinds of tubes. He said, What kind of corrupt country is this? I join and right away look what they do to me ! They responded, Fool. Now that you are a member, we are taking care of you. So too with HaKadosh Baruch Hu . The Sefer Mitzvot Katan , mitzvah 5, adds, from the chachamim , that when something bad happens one should say: מְעַט מֵחֻבִּי נִגְבִּיתִי /This is only a little of what I owe. Rabbenu Yonah , in Shaare Teshuvah (4th Gate, Letter 13), teaches something similar. When something happens to a person, he should tell himself that this is coming from Hashem's love. He quotes a midrash that says you know how much wrong you have done, and you know that the punishments and suffering are much less than the crime. It is like someone who is sentenced to thirty years in prison but gets off with only six months. The Sefer Mitzvot HaKatan adds that when someone suffers, even if he cannot tolerate it and is kicking and screaming, afterward he should look back, be happy, and not complain. He quotes the Gemara in Berachot : אַגְרָא דִּיסּוּרִין שְׁתִיקוּתָא /The reward for suffering is silence. This ultimately falls under the mitzvah of Bechol Meodecha/ בְּכָל מְאֹדֶךָ/which the Gemara explains to mean בְּכָל מִדָּה וּמִדָּה – With every measure that you are given, accept it wholeheartedly. Rabbenu Bachya , in Shemot 4:22, quotes from the Gaon Rabbenu Chananel a remarkable concept. When Pharaoh is introduced to the Jewish people, God says: בְּנִי בְּכֹרִי יִשְׂרָאֵל – My son, My firstborn, Yisrael. He explains that God is telling Pharaoh, Yes, I gave them over to you to subjugate, that is true. But do not think that is because they are light in My eyes. I had to give them musar . As it says in our pasuk : וְיָדַעְתָּ עִם לְבָבֶךָ כַּאֲשֶׁר יְיַסֵּר אִישׁ אֶת בְּנוֹ, I am chastising them like a father chastises his son. Pharaoh, these are My children. You went overboard. I still love them. Do not think you have the right to do what you did to them. A person can constantly fulfill mitzvot with this approach. There is no one without challenges, and if you keep telling yourself at every event that happens that this is from God , it's not a coincidence and you accept it without complaint , you fulfill a tremendous mitzvah . May Hashem give us the strength to fulfill this always.