Rabbi David Ashear
“Most of the time we don’t even know from what Hashem is saving us.”
We have a mitzvah every single day to remember what Balak and Bilaam tried to do to the Jewish people in the wilderness – “…so that we will know about the righteousness of Hashem” (Michah 6:5). The Jews there were in grave danger. Bilaam knew the precise moment that his curse could take effect. Yet, Hashem protected His People and didn’t allow it to happen. The Jews had no idea what danger they were in. They went about their daily routine, oblivious to what was going on. But they had Hashem protecting them. That is something we must remind ourselves every day.
There are so many dangers out there about which we have no idea. We have to appreciate that we have Someone protecting us from them. Most of the time we don’t even know from what Hashem is saving us. But, baruch Hashem, we can always feel secure knowing that He definitely is protecting us.
A woman in my neighborhood wanted to sell her house. She found a buyer who was willing to let her continue living there for 12 years following the sale.
He arrived with his engineer to inspect the house, and they discovered that the house was on a slight tilt. He agreed to go through with the deal providing that the woman fixes the main beam of the house to make it perfectly level. She priced the cost of the repair and found that it would be $12,000. She agreed to the condition, saying that eventually she would get around to making the repair. But the man said, “No. I need it to be done right away in order to sign the contract.”
Two weeks later, the contractor came to do the job. After a few hours, he called her over and asked if she recently been feeling woozy upon waking up.
“Actually, yes,” she answered, surprised. “I don’t know what’s causing it.”
The contractor showed her a slow gas leak from behind the main beam. He said, “Lucky you called me when you did, because if this had continued, then, Gd-forbid, one day you might not of have woken up at all.”
This was Hashem protecting her from danger she could not have known about. This is an example of “letting us know Hashem’s righteousness.”
I was sitting in my house one afternoon when I heard a loud explosion. I looked out the window and saw, down the block, a ball of fire in the sky. It appeared to be right over another home. Then suddenly, the power went out!
I raced outside and, along with my panicky neighbors, ran to see what had happened. We ran to the end of the block and saw a fire with black smoke shooting upward from a manhole in the middle of the street. Had anyone been injured? This incident took place at a very busy intersection where two lanes of cars usually lined up waiting for the light to change as many pedestrians crossed the street. We saw that, baruch Hashem, there was not a car or a person anywhere near the explosion!
Who knows who missed a traffic signal a few minutes earlier, which actually saved their lives? Who knows who was delayed and didn’t cross the street?
Only Hashem knows all the dangers, but the same Hashem is protecting us. We have to remember this lesson every day and appreciate His protection all the time.