There Are No Coincidences | Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair

Rav Noach Weinberg zt”l was once talking about Mitzvos to a secular Jewish university student. The student said: I don't need to do Mitzvos. I know that God loves me just the way I am. Said Rav Noach: How do you know that? Well, he said, About two years ago, I was riding a wild set of wheels, this Harley Davidson that I had around some bends up in the mountains. I turned a really tight bend, and there, right in front of me, was this huge Mack Truck, right in my face. So I deliberately laid down the Harley into a skid, to try and stop myself going over the edge. But as I slithered along the road, I knew I wasn't going to stop, and just as I was about to go over the cliff, I saw a small tree stump coming up towards me. I managed to grab the stump, and as the Harley went over the top, I grabbed on for dear life. I know God loves me. Who do you think put that stump there? Said Rav Noach: Maybe you should ask yourself who put the Mack Truck there? Very often, when it comes to the challenge of Shemiras Einayim, people feel, What could I do? You know, I’m walking down the street, I'm doing the things which are normal for me to do, I'm working in my office, I'm going shopping, and it's part of life. I can only control myself just that much, but if we think, No. Hashem runs the world 100%. Hashem writes the script of the world. So if we would take that into account and we would realize that every single time we're drawn to look at something and we feel that there's just no way to look away, the answer is No. Every single situation was created by Hashem. There are no coincidences. That specific challenge was put there at that specific time. It wasn't there a moment before, and it wasn't there a moment afterwards. I wasn't there a moment before and I wasn't there a moment later afterwards. There are no coincidences. Hashem is bringing this particular person or this particular ad or this particular Nisayon right now, and I can beat it. And when you look at it that way, it's a lot easier to overcome, because you know it's from Hashem. There are no coincidences.