Eikev

When we sleep at night, a spiritual impurity rests upon us. When we wake up, the impurity leaves our body & settles on our hands, so we wash our hands to get rid of the impurity.

Why, asks the מליץ יושר, did the Torah choose the hands of all the limbs on one’s body to have this impurity rest until washed away? He answers that a person might err & say כוחי ועוצם ידי עשה לי את החיל הזה,my strength & the might of my hand made me all this wealth. One attributes his success to the might of his hands. Since there is no greater impurity than believing in one’s own power, it is the hands that get the impurity to show that believing in the strength of our hands is impure.

The next posuk says כי הוא הנתן לך כח לעשות חיל that is was He who gave you the strength to make wealth. It is interesting to see that אונקלוס translates this as " that it was He that gave you advice to buy possessions." Chazal say that reshaim are full of regrets. If that statement would be referring to regretting sin, then they wouldn't be called reshaim, but rather tzadikim. So it must be referring to regrets regarding the mundane. The בש"ט explains that they’re called reshaim because they regret the mundane, for one has to believe that all his dealings are under the guidance of Hashem. He is the one who puts the ideas into one’s head so to regret a deal or purchase that one feels didn't go well is showing that he doesn’t believe that all comes from Hashem. A tzaddik would realize there is no reason to regret for that was the will of Hashem.   

To help us understand this, ר"י לוינשטיין would bring the words of the חובת הלבבות that says: just as with life & death everybody realizes that it’s all in the hands of Hashem, so, too, we must believe regarding worldly matters.

There's a story told over by רבי חיים חייקין that exemplifies this point. Once, ר' אליהו לידר was a guest in the home of a wealthy man  & overheard him bragging to his friend that nothing could harm him. He had so many different avenues of income that even if one or two failed, there were always others that worked. He had unlimited funds, so he felt invincible. When the rabbi heard him talking like that, he was afraid for him & asked him to refrain from such talk. However, the wealthy man just continued to revel in his monies.

A few years later, Tsar Nikolai passed through the town of this wealthy man. On his way, he went on a bridge that this man had built. However, these bridges were built to handle light loads which was normal for that city. When the Tsar came with his whole entourage & fully laden carriages, the bridge collapsed under them, killing some of his best soldiers. This was an affront to the Tsar himself. Since the one responsible was a Jew, undoubtedly the penalty would be death. Before they would realize who was responsible, the wealthy man ran out of town with just the clothes on his back, penniless.

Left with no choice, he had to go around begging for food. One Shabbos he ended up in the same house as ר' אליהו לידר . When he saw him, he cried & said "I still hear your words ringing in my ears......

The Chofetz Chaim used to tell this story often to prove that a person has no control & everything is given & taken by Hashem.  
If only we could internalize this lesson & really believe that we have no control, we could put our complete faith in Hashem & have no more worries!