Welcome to the Daily Chizuk. We say in the Amidah three times a day: We thank Hashem for what? That He is our God. This is our greatest gift: Hashem is our God. Fortunate is the nation that has Hashem as its God. Hashem is the source of all good, and He is the one running the world. He is the one taking care of us. When? Forever and ever. There is not a moment in the day when Hashem is not thinking about you and guiding you. We are never alone. We are always being watched and guarded. Hashem is your guardian.
A man told me last year that, on a Sunday morning, his wife went out and told him to put their daughter on the van that was supposed to come at 9 a.m. and pick her up for the Sunday program. At exactly 9 o’clock, the doorbell rang, and the guy said, “I’m here to pick up your daughter for the Sunday program.” So the man brought his daughter out, buckled her into the van, and it looked like she was the first one being picked up.
Twenty minutes later, his wife called and said, “What’s our daughter doing?” He said, “What do you mean? I put her on the van.” She said, “What? The driver called me to cancel. There is no van today.” He said, “Someone came to the door at 9, and I put her on.” She said, “Who else was on that van?” He said, “No one. She was the only one.” Then they started talking. They started to panic. They called the police.
The man said, “I wanted to do something. I wanted to get her back, but there was nothing I could do. Where am I going to look? Where am I going to go?” He said he had connections with the police department. The number of police who got involved was unimaginable, yet he said he felt so helpless. The only thing that gave him and his wife any comfort was that they could pray. No one knows where she is, but Hashem is with her, and Hashem could bring her back in a second.
In the end, they tracked her down. They tracked her van. She was fine, Baruch Hashem (Blessed is Hashem). There was a mix-up, and she was headed to a different Sunday program. And it wasn’t even the police who found her.
We have to be so thankful that no matter what the situation is, we are never helpless. There are so many situations in life that we have absolutely no control over. The truth is, we never have control. But there are times when we realize it. But we never have to. Don’t worry. The one who does have control is Hashem Elokeinu (our God), the one who loves us more than we love ourselves, the one who will always do the very best for us. There’s no such thing as being helpless. We could always be helped.
So we thank Hashem. We’re so thankful that you are the one in charge and that you are ours. We don’t realize how much Hashem is protecting us and looking out for us. The same guy told me that his little niece was at his house, and her mother called to tell her to come home. She lived right next door. So she walked out of the house and noticed there was a car slowing down and sitting right in front of the house. She got nervous and went back inside.
Two minutes later, the mother called back: “Don’t send her home. There’s a big raccoon standing right in between our properties.” By that time, the car had already pulled away. That car was Hashem protecting the child, bringing her back inside. These things happen. These things happen hundreds of times a day. Some we see and some we don’t. But how fortunate are we to have Hashem.
Let us think about this every time we say modim. Modim anachnu lach. Thank you, Hashem, that you are our God and you are always there for us. Have a great day.