Welcome to Daily Bitachon . We continue with lessons from Yetziat Mitzrayim , and we're now going through the pesukim that talk about our gratitude to Hashem as we bring the bikurim . One of the things we say is וַ יָּרֵעוּ אֹתָנוּ הַמִּצְרִים /The Egyptians did evil to us . We quote a pasuk - הָ֥בָה נִֽתְחַכְּמָ֖ה ל֑וֹ פֶּן־יִרְבֶּ֗ה וְהָיָ֞ה כִּֽי־תִקְרֶ֤אנָה מִלְחָמָה֙ וְנוֹסַ֤ף גַּם־הוּא֙ עַל־שֹׂ֣נְאֵ֔ינוּ וְנִלְחַם־בָּ֖נוּ וְעָלָ֥ה מִן־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ Paroah said Let's outsmart Him (or them , meaning God) Lest they become many . When there will be a war, the Jewish people will join our enemies, etc. We see here an extremely important lesson in bitachon : You can't outsmart God. As the Bet Halevi tells us in his essay on bitachon , When a person puts forth hishtadlut without bitachon, not only is it futile, but sometimes it actually brings about the opposite result. He cites a pasuk to this effect from Yeshayah 59,5 that discusses a person who decided to collect eggs and incubate them in order that chickens should emerge from them so he should eat them. בֵּיצֵ֤י צִפְעוֹנִי֙ בִּקֵּ֔עוּ וְקוּרֵ֥י עַכָּבִ֖ישׁ יֶאֱרֹ֑גוּ הָאֹכֵ֤ל מִבֵּֽיצֵיהֶם֙ יָמ֔וּת וְהַזּוּרֶ֖ה תִּבָּקַ֥ע אֶפְעֶֽה׃ But after all of his exertion, it turned out that the eggs were from a snake or viper, and a snake came out of them to harm them. Clearly, it would have been better had he not collected all the eggs to begin with! That's what happens when you try to outsmart God. You think you're doing something to your benefit, but it backfires. He cited another pasuk in Iyov 5,13 , לֹכֵ֣ד חֲכָמִ֣ים בְּעׇרְמָ֑ם. God traps the shrewd with their own trickery. Their own shrewdness traps them. Their very efforts are used against them. The Malbim, on that pasuk, cites the story of Yosef and his brothers as an example of this concept. The brothers were, of course, righteous people, but they erred in thinking they needed to limit Yosef to prevent him from asserting his authority over them, and efforts backfired. By selling Yosef as a slave, they not only failed to prevent him from ruling over them, they facilitated it, as he became the Egyptian ruler. The Kli Yakar on Shemot 1,8 tells us something fascinating: A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Yosef . Simply this means he forgot about Yosef, or he never knew about Yosef. But the Kli Yakar explains that the new Paroah did not learn the lesson of Yosef, the lesson that one cannot outsmart Hashem. Paroah set out to prevent the emergence of the Jewish leader by decreeing that all the newborn Jewish boys should be killed. Because of this decree, Moshe's mother placed him in a basket in the river, where he was then discovered by Paroah's very own daughter, who raised Moshe in the palace! The very means by which Paroah thought he could prevent the rise of the Jewish leader resulted in the leader being raised- in the king's own palace! That is this message that we're discussing now. The Egyptians tried to do evil to us? They tried to outsmart God? Well, look what happens when you try to outsmart God. It backfires. The Ben Ish Chai, in his sefer Ben Yehoyada on Masechet Shabbat 119a, brings out this point from a famous story of a very wealthy non-Jew who was warned by astrologers that all his wealth was destined to fall into the hands of a certain Jew known as Yosef Mokir Shabbat / Yosef who honored Shabbat . In order to prevent this from happening, the man sold all his possessions and used the proceeds to buy a precious jewel, which he had sewn into a bejeweled hat, thereby ensuring that his fortune would never be lost. One day, as he crossed a bridge, a strong gust of wind blew the hat with the jewel into the river down below. The jewel was swallowed by a large fish, which was later caught by a fisherman. The fisherman tried to sell the fish in the market on Erev Shabbat , but it was too close to Shabbat . No one needed such a large and expensive fish. Finally, he was advised to offer it to Yosef Mokir Shabbat , who spared no expense for the honor of Shabbat . Sure enough, Yosef happily purchased the fish, and found the jewel and became wealthy! The Ben Ish Chai says, here we see the lesson: This man tried to outsmart Hashem and prevent the decrees from unfolding, but it backfired. His very idea of keeping his wealth away from Yosef Mokir Shabbat actually sent it to him. This is an important lesson of trying to outsmart God without connecting to God will only backfire.