As discussed many times, we were created to have emunah and bitachon in Hashem. Emunah and bitachon are a muscle that we have to work throughout our lives, climbing up the ladder of emunah and bitachon. One of the complications and challenges in order to excel in emunah and bitachon is the mitzvah of hishtadlus, where we are commanded to make our own efforts through our endeavors. And many a time when we perform an act and as a result of our action achieve a certain result, it is a difficult challenge and test for us to sincerely acknowledge and internalize that we did not bring about that result, because according to our perspective and through the lens that we are seeing through, it actually does appear as if we are the ones bringing about our desired result.   Rav Dessler speaks about the different levels of emunah and bitachon correlating to the different requirements of hishtadlus. And he brings the midrash of the four righteous kings. David HaMelech, who was considered the holiest and the highest level of emunah and bitachon, took the approach that when he would go to battle, he would prepare his army completely and make every physical and practical effort in order to win the war. And although all four kings that we are discussing were on a level of complete righteousness way beyond anything we can even begin to imagine. The next king, which is listed in the midrash, decided that he would not go to war with his army because he was worried that if he would go to war and succeed in winning the battle, he might be led mistakenly to attribute the success of his winning the battle to his own effort. And therefore, he decided that it would be appropriate to minimize the hishtadlus and not go to war, but just prepare the army without actually going out and fighting the battle.   The next king, again completely righteous, decided that even preparing the army might scare off the enemy, and if they would do so, that would be a danger to him considering his own efforts as the catalyst to bringing about his success. And therefore, he decided we're just going to sing praise to Hashem. We're not even going to prepare an army. And finally, King Chizkiyahu, on a level of righteousness that we can only dream of, but lower than the other kings, said that he would not go to battle, nor would he prepare the army, and nor would he even sing and pray to Hashem. He would just go to sleep. Because if he would pray and sing to Hashem, and they would then win the battle, because Hashem would hear their prayers and come through for them, he would attribute his successes to the fact that he prayed to Hashem, as if he was the catalyst to bringing about their success.   So, we see here a fascinating idea that in a sense, the more bitachon and emunah a person has, if one can reach a level of David ha-Melech, then it is actually sometimes more appropriate to do hishtadlus, because one is not at risk anymore of mistakenly concluding that they have brought about their own results. Whereas the other kings, who were not on the level of David ha-Melech, but again on a level much higher than any of us can even begin to imagine, they felt that doing too much hishtadlus, too much personal contribution to the situation, was a danger, and they were at risk of coming to conclude that they were the drivers behind their engine. And because of that, they opted to rather do less hishtadlus and rely more on Hashem.   There are many levels as to what would be appropriate with regards to hishtadlus. As a general rule, Rav Dessler does write that our aim should be working towards minimizing our hishtadlus, because as we can see, even from people which were on a much higher level than we are, they were at tremendous risk of concluding that their efforts contributed to their successes. When a person tries to build a muscle through a process which would normally take a year, and one tries to do so in a day, one will probably tear the muscle in an unhealthy way.