Behar: Noam Elimelech: Consequences of Faith

When God created the world, He engendered channels overflowing with abundance in order to satisfy man’s needs. This flow, by its nature, cannot be interrupted. However, when man falls from his level and loses trust in God, Who is the true provider Who feeds and sustains the world with prosperity and without interruption, then man, with his unclean thoughts, produces a blemish in the upper worlds, God forfend, and weakens the power of the upper realm. At such a time the flow of grace (Shefa) ceases. In order for it to reappear, God must commend it to flow anew, as at the beginning of creation. Thus man’s faith in God has cosmic consequences. (Noam Elimelech, Behar; s.v. ve-chi tomru mah nochel)