Photo by Raban Haaijk on Unsplash Despite being a person who usually arrived on time, a young man was running late to an important job interview. He finally arrived at the correct address but there was nowhere to park! Although not being particularly religious, as he circled the block he began to pray feverishly. “G-d please help me find a parking spot!” He was desperate. He felt the job offer slipping away as he searched for a place to park. “G-d, if you find me a parking spot I will begin keeping Kosher and putting on tefillin!” Just then, a spot opened up directly in front of the main entrance of his destination. As he pulled into the spot and hastily parked his car, he continued his conversation with G-d. “G-d, the deal's off, I found a spot!” It’s a joke and we laugh, but do we in fact act in the same way? How often do we appreciate the miraculous blessings in our life? Do we fool ourselves to think that our accomplishments or success are our own doing? We expect miracles to be overt, of sea splitting biblical proportions but more often than not, they’re so commonplace we forget to even notice them. This week’s Torah portion recounts the events just prior to our ancestors entering the Land of Israel and the miracles that took place along the way. One of the miracles was performed by G-d in a completely hidden manner and they only discovered what had happened because G-d caused them to. And this elicited a profound sense of thanks from the Jewish people, so much so that they composed a song of thanksgiving. Interestingly, despite having received numerous miraculous gifts from G-d over the duration of their desert sojourn, this is the only time they actually sang a song of thanksgiving. Was the manna not worthy of thanks? What about the miraculous well of water? What about the other ears they won in miraculous ways? Why didn’t they give thanks then? Here’s the difference: In those instances the miracles came in response to their desperate need. When, out of desperation, they turned to G-d to save them, He responded in kind. But that’s nothing compared to G-d preemptively providing for their protection. In the events described in our Torah portion, G-d’s salvation was a pure gift from Above. Not just a miraculous response in their time of need. That’s why they sang praise; it wasn’t just the miracle, it was experiencing G-d’s profound love for them. Our daily experience is much the same. We don’t even need to ask and we experience such abundance and so much blessing. If we took a moment to realize, we’d jump out of bed each morning and sing praise to G-d!
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