When Bad Things Save Us: Hidden Blessings Behind Life’s Setbacks

There are times that we experience something that seems terrible in the moment, but often that hardship is to save us from something even worse.

As the Talmud (Niddah 31a) tells us: Rabbi Yossi HaGalili taught: What is the meaning of the verse “I thank You, G-d, for being angry with me—Your anger has turned, and You have comforted me” (Isaiah 12:1)?

The Talmud tells of two men preparing to travel overseas for business. On the way to the ship, one of them stepped on a thorn and injured his foot. It took a week of painful treatments before he could walk again. The ship had already sailed without him. He sat in bitter tears, mourning his injury, lost opportunities, and ruined income. How would he support his family?

A few days later, news arrived that the ship had sunk at sea and there were no survivors. Suddenly, he realized that what had seemed like a curse was a blessing in disguise. He burst into praise and gratitude to G-d, who saved his life with that painful thorn.

Sometimes things seem absolutely awful, and we cry out: “Why is this happening to me?” Then, something shifts, and the darkness becomes light. What we thought was a loss turns out to be protection. What felt like pain becomes salvation.

The sages asked: Why did G-d turn Balaam’s curses into blessings? Why not just stop him from speaking altogether? Why do we need his words to be transformed?

The answer is given so that we would learn that what seems like a curse to us now, may one day be revealed as the greatest of blessings.

A Jewish family in England was on their way to the airport.
Everything that could go wrong—did. First, a wheel came loose from the car. Then, a huge truck blocked the road with no way to pass. A police officer pulled them over and demanded their documents, which the driver couldn’t find. The officer slowly wrote a citation, ignoring their pleas. They missed their flight by minutes.

Furious, the family blamed the driver. He was devastated and did everything he could to book them onto a later flight, which he finally did.

On the way back to London, the driver turned on the radio, and froze. The plane they had originally been scheduled to take had crashed, with no survivors. He rushed back to the family's home, where everyone had assumed the worst, and told them the truth: by divine grace, they had been saved.

Another story illustrates how light can come from the darkest pit:

A Holocaust survivor recently passed away. He had spent the entire war in Bergen-Belsen. Among the prisoners were Russian POWs who were treated slightly better. The day before liberation, Nazi soldiers arrived with a truck full of fresh bread rolls. They shouted that anyone who wanted one should line up.

Try to imagine the level of starvation. Not hunger of a day or two—but years. A roll was worth more than life itself.

This man got in line. When he finally reached the front, there were six rolls left—and he was sixth. The Nazi handed him one, and then opened a new box of fresh rolls. He thought to himself, Maybe I can get a second one. He knew it was dangerous, but hunger won. He hid the first roll behind his back, held out his hand again and got a second roll.

Overjoyed, he hurried back to the barracks. Just before entering, he felt a hand on his shoulder: “We saw you.” It was a Russian prisoner. “Hand them over.” The man refused. “Go wait in line like I did!” The Russian whistled. Two more prisoners came. They dragged the Jew into a hut, beat him mercilessly, and took the rolls.

Lying on the floor, bruised and broken, he cried out inside:
“Master of the Universe! Why now?! Why, after surviving everything, am I going to die from a beating—over bread?!”

He lost consciousness. Hours later, he opened his eyes to the blinding sun. Confused, he wondered: Why didn’t the Nazis kill me for missing roll call?

He struggled to his feet and saw that the camp was full of corpses. The rolls had been poisoned. The Nazis’ final act before fleeing. He turned to G-d and whispered: “Thank You…for the beating.”

G-d doesn’t only save lives. Often He spares us great pain by sending a smaller pain instead.

Sometimes, what feels like a delay, an annoyance, or even a tragedy, is G-d’s way of sparing us from something worse. Often, we only understand that much later, when the full picture becomes clear.