Exactly What You Desired

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

The pasuk says that Hashem is משביע לכל חי רצון , which seems to be saying that Hashem provides nourishment for every living creature. However, the midrash asks, if so, it should have said that Hashem is משביע לעל חי מזון , referring to food. Why does it say the word רצון , meaning desire? The midrash answers, this pasuk is coming to tell us that Hashem does not only satiate a person with food. He gives every person exactly what he desires. For 40 years, Hashem sustained the Jewish people in the desert with mann. The midrash says, if a person at that time would have just thought, I'm really in the mood for a certain type of food, Hashem would make the mann that he was eating taste exactly like that food. This took place at every meal that millions of people ate over the course of the 40 years in the desert. Hashem gave every single individual exactly what he wanted, every time he wanted it. And it was not just for that generation. Hashem wanted to teach us that He could do the same for every single person today as well. This does not only apply to food. Hashem could fulfill all of a person's heart's desires in any area. It is true that we don't always get exactly what we want. That's because Hashem wants to give us what is truly good for us. And that is not always what we think is good for us. However, when coming to pray for something, we must believe Hashem can give us exactly what we want. And if it's good for us, He will. A man told me he had a very hard year. And as the summer was winding down, he was thinking about doing something fun to clear his head and help him prepare for the upcoming year. A couple of weeks ago, he was talking to his wife one morning and said to her, "Some people in my situation would need a long vacation to recuperate. I don't think I need that. I just need to have a little fun before going back to the grind. I would love to drive around in a Jeep Wrangler with the top down and enjoy some of my favorite music for a few days. I think that would do wonders for me." He was just talking out loud as he knew that cars don't just show up at a person's doorstep to enjoy for a few days. Later that same day, one of his rabbis called him asking for help with his car. The rabbi said his car is continuously having problems and was asking for advice. The man said he knows someone who deals with cars and he would call him right away about it. The car dealer heard the issues and recommended for the rabbi to try and sell his car for whatever he could get for it. Of course, he would have to tell the customer its faults. The car dealer then called the rabbi himself and told him he would sell it for him. Later that same day, the man called the car dealer to thank him for helping his rabbi. The car dealer then told him he was going to help him too. The man asked him what he meant by that. The car dealer then reminded him that two years before this when he leased him his current car, he told him how much he loved Jeep Wranglers, but it wouldn't be befitting for him to drive such a car for a long period of time. He then said that he just bought a Jeep Wrangler to resell and he wanted to give it to him as a gift to let him use it for a few days. The man couldn't believe his ears. It was just a few hours before this that he told his wife all he wanted was to take it easy for a few days and drive around the Jeep Wrangler and now someone was delivering him one right to his door. He said to me he felt so special. Even though his want was something silly in the great scheme of things, Hashem still gave it to him. It was just an extra that would make him feel good and Hashem provided it almost instantly. Hashem cares about every last detail of everyone's lives and can always help us with everything that we need.