But through counting the days of the working week in relation to Shabbos, and the six years of farming in relation to the year of Shmita, we can connect and infuse even the mundane and the routine with the holy and the special. When the level of bitachon was high, the amount of food that was harvested in the sixth year was no different from any other year, but it was able to nourish for three years instead of one. But if the level of trust was low, then the fields yielded three times the amount of a normal year. The first way was through a hidden miracle, the second through an open miracle. An open miracle is always second-best in Hashem's plan.
Man is the creature who is designed specifically to have freedom of choice.
Open miracles are so compelling that they limit Man's freedom of choice. Nevertheless, Hashem responds even to a lower level of trust in Him, and provides the pyrotechnics of an open miracle if that is what is needed to make the people feel secure. Rav Chaim of Volozhin once asked the Vilna Gaon what the Talmud means when it says that one of Hashem's attributes is to be satisfied with His lot. When someone is judged deserving of the death penalty in the Heavenly courts, Hashem throws into the balance the tremendous grief that his innocent parents, his wife and children will suffer if the sentence is executed. Therefore Hashem does not punish anyone until He also calculates whether this will cause undeserved punishment to one of his family members.