Imagine it’s in Israel and two gentleman are sitting in the front row of a bus. And the bus makes a sharp turn and the bus makes another turn, and a car seems to almost cut it off and the bus comes a little bit too close to a car. And one of the men is sitting there trembling. Every turn causes him more anxiety and nervousness. And his friend is sitting there next to him, calm as a cucumber. Finally the nervous man turns to his friend and says I don’t understand it, didn’t you see that car coming? Didn’t you see we barely missed that other bus? Why aren’t you afraid? And his calm friend turns to the nervous one and says don’t you understand? There’s a driver to the bus.
That mashal (parable) is very, very important. Because many situations in life look very, very scary. There are threats, there are obstacles, there are all kinds of things that come right in front of me, and they seem to threaten me. Understanding that there is a driver to this bus, understanding that Hashem is with me, understanding that Hashem orchestrates my life is a very basic understanding that allows a person to trust in Hashem. If there’s no driver, if Hashem isn’t here, then it’s a very scary world. But knowing that there’s a driver to this bus, knowing that Hashem orchestrates every situation, allows me to realize we’ll end up there, we’ll end up where we’re supposed to be, because Hashem is leading me exactly where He feels is best for me.
