והאמין בה’ ויחשבה לו צדקה…(לך לך טו:ו)

The Apter Rav zt’’l explained this pasuk with a remarkable story:

The Rebbe, Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk zt’’l, was once a guest in the home of the Apter Rav, who prepared a special room in his honor. One day, the Apter Rav entered the room and saw Reb Elimelech engaged in cheshbon hanefesh — deep spiritual introspection — questioning whether he was truly worthy of Olam Haba.

Reb Elimelech was saying to himself: “My nefesh, my soul, you are not worthy of Olam Haba!”

But then, he calmed himself and said: “Even if I am not worthy of Olam Haba, Hashem will grant it to me nonetheless — for Chazal teach that Hashem Himself fulfills the mitzvos of the Torah, including the mitzvah of tzedakah. In Olam Haba there is no eating or drinking, so what form of tzedakah can Hashem perform there? It must be that He gives Olam Haba as an act of tzedakah to those who, after judgment, are not truly deserving of it.”

When the Apter Rav heard these words, he exclaimed that now the pasuk is perfectly clear: “וַיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ לּוֹ צְדָקָה” — Avraham Avinu, too, made a cheshbon hanefesh, and in his great humility thought himself unworthy of Hashem’s promises. Therefore, when he heard all the good that Hashem promised him, he believed that it was not a reward based on justice, but a gift — a tzedakah — from Hashem’s boundless kindness.