Shemoneh Esrei 11: Saved By The.....

מלך עוזר ומושיע ומגן

O King, Helper, Savior, and Shield

מלך

In every salvation, there is the natural simchah of having been saved.  However, when the King of all kings saves us, there is an even greater simchah.  When we feel the love and the closeness to Hashem that is brought about through the recognition that Hashem Himself saved us, we experience an even greater joy than the joy of the salvation itself (S’fas Emes in BaMidbar, quoted and explained by sefer Nafshi Cholas Ahavasecha).

עוזר ומושיע

עוזר  refers to Hashem supporting our efforts and causing them to succeed.  מושיע  refers to Hashem saving us when we do not put forth any effort.

In business, sometimes we may put huge effort into a particular deal or project or sale, and then walk away with nothing but many hours, days, and weeks of aggravation.  At other times, we may put forth very little effort over a short period of time, and then walk away with many months’ worth of income with only a few hours of time and effort.  Someone in the life insurance business has shared that he has experienced this a number of times.  He has worked many months on difficult cases that resulted in no monetary income, while he had other cases where he worked just a few hours and made many months’ worth of income.  These opposing experiences help to make it crystal clear that we do not produce any results.  Looking back over time, we come to realize that the frustrating cases were actually a gift from Hashem to assist us in coming to this realization.

There are many similar situations in life outside of business as well.  We may expend several hours of effort trying to accomplish a given task and fail to succeed.  Then, a short while later, the task gets done through another means, without our lifting a finger.  Once again, the frustration of failing to succeed after our significant effort can be viewed in hindsight as a gift from Hashem to reinforce with great clarity that we do not produce results.  Our role is to put forth maximum effort in ruchniyus and normal effort in material pursuits, but the results are solely Hashem’s domain.

This is one understanding of why sometimes Hashem is an עוזר  and sometimes He is a מושיע  (sefer Nafshi Cholas Ahavasecha).

ומגן

In addition to being an עוזר  and a מושיע, Hashem is also like a full-body shield, protecting us completely from all harm as He did with Avraham Avinu, saving him from the fiery furnace (Rashba).