The first of them: that he believe, and it be clear to him, that the seven qualities are joined together in G-d which, when they are joined together in the one who is trusted, make it possible to trust in him. I have already listed them, and pointed to them with whatever pesukim came to hand. They are:1

The first: that the Creator, may He be blessed, has more mercy on a person than anyone else who has mercy; and all the mercy and compassion that come to him from anyone else, all of it is from the mercy and compassion of G-d, as the pasuk says, “And He will give you mercy, and have mercy on you, and multiply you” (Devarim 13:18).2

The second: that the ways of a person’s benefit are not hidden from the Creator, may He be exalted. Reason requires this, since [man] is one of His works; and no one knows better than its maker the ways of mending a thing that was made and what spoils it, the harms that befall it, and the ways of its illness and its healing.2

And if this holds true of human craftsmen, who in their work bring about nothing but an outward form, while over the root [material] and the essential form they have no means and no ability to bring them into being,2

[all the more so] the One who brought into being a person’s root, his form, his makeup and the order of his composition, He is the wise One who knows, without doubt, what benefits him and what harms him, and what is good for him in his world and in his end; as it is written, “I am Hashem your G-d, who teaches you for your benefit, who leads you in the way you should go” (Yeshayahu 48:17); and it says, “For the one whom Hashem loves He rebukes, etc.” (Mishlei 3:12).2

The third: that the Creator, may He be blessed, is stronger than any strong one, His word is decisive above every word, and no one can turn back His judgment; as it says, “Whatever Hashem wished, He has done” (Tehillim 135:6); and it says, “So will My word be that goes out of My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, etc.” (Yeshayahu 55:11).2

The fourth: that He watches over the conduct of all a person’s affairs. He does not leave them, and does not look away from them; not one of them is hidden from Him, from the smallest to the greatest; and one thing does not make Him forget another. As it is written, “Why do you say, Yaakov, and speak, Yisrael, ‘My way is hidden from Hashem, and my cause passes by my G-d’?” (Yeshayahu 40:27); and it says, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting G-d, Hashem, Creator of the ends of the earth, does not tire and does not grow weary; there is no searching out His understanding” (Yeshayahu 40:28).1

The fifth: that it is not in the hand of any created being to benefit himself or to harm himself, or [to benefit or harm] another, except by the permission of the Creator, may He be blessed.2

For when a servant has more than one master, and each of them is able to benefit him, he cannot trust in any one of them, because he hopes for benefit from each of them. If one of them is more able to benefit him than the rest, the strength of his trust in that one will match his ability, even though he trusts in the rest. And if only one of them alone is able to benefit him and to harm him, he will trust in him alone, of necessity, since he hopes for no benefit from anyone else.2

So too, when a person realizes that none of the created beings will benefit him or harm him except by the permission of the Creator, may He be blessed, his heart will turn away from fearing them and from hoping in them, and he will trust in the Creator alone; as it says, “Do not trust in nobles, in a son of man, who has no salvation” (Tehillim 146:3).1

The sixth: that he know how abundant is G-d’s goodness to man, and how He first brought him into being out of great kindness and goodness, without his having been worthy of it before Him, and not out of any need He has of him, but as a free gift, a goodness and a kindness, as we explained in the Shaar HaBechinah of this sefer; and as David, alav hashalom, said, “Many things You have done, You, Hashem my G-d: Your wonders and Your thoughts toward us; none can be compared to You. Were I to tell and to speak of them, they are too many to count” (Tehillim 40:6).2

The seventh: that it be clear to him that everything that comes to be in this world, in substance and in circumstance, has a set limit, and will not go beyond or fall short of what the Creator, may He be blessed, decreed for it, in its amount, its kind, its time and its place. Nothing increases what He decreed to be little, and nothing lessens what He decreed to be much; nothing delays what He decreed to come early, and nothing brings early what He decreed to come late. And whatever comes about in a way that seems the reverse of this, that [too] is what was decreed beforehand, at the outset of His knowledge; only, every decree that stands first in the Creator’s knowledge has causes, and the causes have causes.2