Welcome to the daily chizuk (encouragement). There's a pasuk (verse) in Tehillim: Ashrei maskil el dal; beyom ra'ah yemaltehu Hashem. It means: Fortunate is the person who uses his sechel (intellect) to see what the poor man needs, because beyom ra'ah, on a bad day, yemaltehu Hashem. Hashem will save him because of his good deed.
The person who found the $2,000 in the parking lot said that, when he saw the money, he looked at it as an opportunity Hashem was giving him to do a good deed that would save him from something bad. That's what he was thinking. He was so excited to do the mitzvah (good deed) that he went over and above the letter of the law just to have the zechut (merit). When he completed the mitzvah, he called his rabbi to discuss it. His rabbi told him, “That's a beautiful way to look at it. You did a great thing, and you got a big zechut.”
Two days later, the man's daughter, who was eight months pregnant, was feeling severe pains. She went to the doctor, and it turned out her appendix was about to burst. It had been swelling up for weeks. The doctors quickly did surgery, and there was no harm to the baby. The woman was okay. Baruch Hashem, everyone was fine. The man called the rabbi back and said, “I was confident the whole time that everything would be okay.” Hashem gave him the opportunity in advance, and he seized it.
This concept—that Hashem gives us opportunities for merits to protect ourselves from something bad that's destined to happen—is actually found in a Gemara in Masechet Shabbat, on page Kuf Nun Vav, amud bet. There are a few stories there. I'll tell you one of them. Rabbi Akiva had a daughter about whom the astrologers told him, “On the day she gets married, she's going to die.” Her wedding day came, and on that day she took her headpiece and stuck it into the wall. It went right into a snake's eye and killed it. In the morning, when she took it out of the wall, she saw the dead snake. Her father, Rabbi Akiva, asked her, “Wow, what good deed did you do to save yourself?” She said, “At my wedding, there was a poor man who was looking for food and asking, but nobody heard him, and I gave him my own portion.” Rabbi Akiva said, “Beautiful. Hashem gave you the opportunity, and you took it.”
What a great way to look at situations that require us to go out of our way to help people. Hashem knows the future, and sometimes, in His infinite kindness, He gives a person opportunities to save themselves.
Someone once told me a story he read in one of Rabbi Pesach Krohn's books. There was once a man who stopped off at a restaurant for a quick bite to eat. He was going somewhere, and there was a poor Jew there who said, “I'm very hungry. Please help me.” The poor man was dirty and smelled. But the man said, “No problem. I'm going to help you. Come sit down next to me. I'll get you anything you want on the menu. What do you like?” The man said, “I like baked apples and tea.” They ate together, and after eating, the man went on his way. He was on his way to the mountain, driving. On the highway, his car flipped over three times. He got out. He was totally fine, but he was all shaken up.
Somebody stopped and brought him back to their house. While he was in the person's house, they brought him out some food. They brought him out baked apples and a hot cup of tea. The man was shocked. He said, “Wow, this was the zechut that saved me. This was the opportunity Hashem gave me in advance. Hashem sent the refuah. He sent the remedy. He sent before the makah (blow).”
This is how we have to view all situations when things are a little difficult for us to help people. Hashem is really giving us merits. He's not trying to hurt us. He wants to give us a merit. And Be'ezrat Hashem, we'll use these merits. Hashem will always protect us in all situations. Have a great day.