This story reminds us that parnassah is from Hashem, and His plan always prevails, regardless of what the person does. This is why Chasam Sofer taught that one shouldn’t work hard to earn parnassah. It is anyway up to Hashem, and Hashem can support us with less hishtadlus as well.
Parnassah, the Chasam Sofer taught, doesn’t require toil, but Torah study does.
Even those who don’t have much free time for Torah study should designate whatever time they can for this important task.
In Bnei Brak, there was an ehrlicher yungerman who worked as a taxi driver. Once, he was driving the Steipler Gaon zt"l, and as he drove the taxi, he moaned and told the Steipler that he works all day and doesn’t have time for Torah. Even at night, when he doesn’t work, he doesn’t go to a Torah shiur because he knows that as soon as he sits down, he will fall asleep by the Gemara.
The Steipler replied, "If you go to the shiur, even if you fall asleep, you will be rewarded as if you heard the entire shiur because you did the maximum you could."
