What If Your Biggest Threat Is Actually Your Biggest Blessing?

A housewares shop owner once shared his personal story in an issue of Hashgacha Pratit. He hoped that by telling it, others would strengthen their emunah and trust in Hashem.

Here is how he described what happened.

“About thirty years ago, I owned a housewares store. Baruch Hashem, our income was steady and covered the needs of our family comfortably. Then one day, out of nowhere, I saw that on the very same street as my shop, another housewares store was about to open.”

The next morning, a large sign appeared announcing the new business. He immediately understood what that could mean.

“It was not a small test,” he recalls. “I had to accept the possibility that from now on my business might earn only half of what it had until then.”

A Test of Emunah and Bitachon

Friends advised him to take the matter to a din Torah, a Jewish court. They argued that this was a clear case of hasagat gevul, unfair business encroachment, and that he should demand the new shop close or relocate.

But he chose a different path.

“I did not want to get involved in conflict,” he explains. “Instead, I strengthened my faith.”

He repeated to himself the words of Chovot HaLevavot, a classic Jewish work on faith and trust in Hashem: “No person in the world can harm me or benefit me unless it is with the Creator’s permission.”

He also reminded himself of another powerful teaching: “No one can touch what is designated for his fellow.”

Slowly, by repeating these ideas again and again, he calmed his fears. He trained himself to believe that his livelihood was determined by Hashem alone, not by a competitor across the street.

Eventually, the new store stopped occupying his thoughts. He returned to his work with peace of mind.

The Customer Who Walked Into the Wrong Store

Then one day, something unexpected happened.

A man who had just opened a catering business entered his shop to purchase supplies. He began buying in large quantities: hundreds of plates, flatware, complete dish sets, and many other essentials. The sale was so substantial that it generated a profit that could support the shop owner’s family for months.

After completing the purchase, the store owner asked him with curiosity, “How did you end up coming here?”

The customer replied, “I went to the housewares store in its usual location, but there was a sign on the door saying it had moved to this address. So I came here and walked in.”

The buyer did not even realize he had entered the wrong store. He believed he was shopping at the competitor’s new location.

When What Looks Like Harm Becomes Good

In that moment, the shop owner understood the deeper lesson.

Sometimes a person sees something and assumes it will harm him. He feels threatened and worried. Yet he cannot see the full picture.

“If that store had not moved onto my street,” the owner reflected, “this customer would never have come to me.”

The very competitor he feared had unintentionally directed a major client to his store. Through that one customer, he earned a comfortable living without extra effort.

What had seemed like a threat turned out to be a channel of blessing.

A Lesson in Trust in Hashem

This story is not about business strategy. It is about bitachon, trust in Hashem.

The shop owner could have reacted with anger, legal action, and anxiety. Instead, he chose to internalize the teaching that a person’s livelihood is in Hashem’s hands alone.

When we truly believe that no one can take what is meant for us, fear begins to fade. We can act responsibly, but without panic. We can work hard, but without feeling threatened by others.

Sometimes, the very situation we think will hurt us is the one Hashem uses to send us our greatest blessing.

Thank You, Hashem.