What Lies Beneath

This week's portion begins with an interesting command: See! It is the name of this week's portion, Re'Eh רְאֵה (See), and embodies the essence of its message as well. To fully comprehend this command, you will need to dig much deeper. Adonai is not talking about natural sight. You wouldn't come up to a person with perfect sight and command them to see. That would be illogical. So, what does the LORD mean when He commands His people to see in this verse?

"See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse-the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known." Deuteronomy 11:26-28 in the NIV, but verse 26 is better translated from Hebrew as "See! I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse."

It is clear to me that this command is not referring to natural vision, but rather implies spiritual discernment. It is connected to a statement that lets us know that when we achieve that discernment, we will clearly see what is a blessing and what is a curse. Something we all think we have this ability automatically upon receiving the Holy Spirit, or that we believe we get it when we receive some mystical "spiritual gift" from above. The truth is that we get this from experience and time. We all go through these levels of spiritual vision, and by experience (time spent with the LORD and experiences increase our level of trust in Him and His Word), we graduate to different levels:

The blind: All people who only see the natural world or do not see the true LORD. They don't believe in a Higher Power and aren't willing to follow any entity besides themselves. From Adonai's perspective, this includes all who follow a false entity. These are the lost who we are told to reach by living as a model that points to the true God of the scriptures: YHVH, the Creator and His Christ, Yeshua.

The newborn believer: At this level, a person is willing to observe commandments because they are aware of a Higher Power and have surrendered to His plan and authority.

The mature believer: With time, this person begins to understand the connection between obedience and blessing. They are more devoted to following because they understand the rewards of Mitzvah obedience (keeping the commandments).

The believer with full Vision: At this level, one does not merely appreciate the value of keeping Torah (His teachings), but can "See" it for what it truly is: a guidance to life and abundance. It is ironic, but at this level, a person is willing to "blindly" follow God's commands. A person at this level has a Vision of the LORD and knows He is good, and whatever He instructs us to do is good, even if we don't fully understand the command.

When we reach that level of vision, then we can truly "see" what is a blessing and what is a curse. On the surface level, that is not very impressive, because most people can discern what is good or bad. However, this level of vision will allow us to see even what is hidden from most people's eyes. It took me nearly three decades to reach this level of discernment, which allows me to follow Adonai blindly. I trust Him with every aspect of my life, and I fully trust His Word. Even the commands I do not fully understand, like observing dietary laws and observing His feasts. Commands that most people ignore and think have been done away with because of Christ's sacrifice. Commands that will add nothing to my salvation, nor take away Yeshua's atoning sacrifice, but will add to my blessings on this earth. All His instructions were given to promote life, and when they are observed will bring us blessings. It is something I wish I could pass on to you, but something you will only be able to experience for yourselves as you do them. But that isn't all, when we reach this level, we can also see the hidden messages of our enemy.

Which tree will you choose? Life or death. Adonai gives us the choice daily.

Yesterday I was watching a movie with my daughter called "Kpop Demon Hunters". A movie that is sweeping the nation and has become viral. There wasn't a campaign advertising this movie. It spread through word of mouth because the movie is brilliant. It has catchy music and is animated in a truly captivating anime style. I must admit the movie lived up to its hype. I enjoyed it. However, because I have this vision, I could also "see" the message behind it. A message that is embedded in most movies today because the enemy is growing bolder in the last days. I can't go into details without spoiling the movie, but the message is that we need to accept our sins or faults if we want to be free and happy. This is referred to as Gnosticism. Gnosticism is a philosophy that teaches that the God of the Bible is an evil tyrant who wants to control our lives by giving us strict rules, and that Satan is our savior who liberated us from that tyrant by giving us the truth. By offering us "knowledge" to discern good and evil.

The bottom line is that the entire scripture reveals that there are only two paths. From Genesis to Revelation, we always see only two choices: God's way and our own (notice I didn't say Satan's way). The tree of Life represents God's authority and way of doing things, and the "other" tree represents all humanity's attempt to live with autonomy. To do things "our way" with our understanding. That is why it is called the "tree of knowledge of good and evil" and not the tree of knowledge of evil or the tree of death. The reason that the fruit of that tree is so enticing is that our ways have some good mixed in. Most religions and human philosophy have a lot of good baked in, but ultimately lead to death. The fruit of that tree may sometimes lead to good results, but its final destination is death. Only Adonai offers fruit that leads to life, and I don't just mean eternal life, but an abundant life on earth too.

I hope that you will see this as well, and not take three decades to do so like I did. I hope you can trust in His way and fully surrender to it today. This verse summarizes what I'm trying to say:

"Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him." Psalm 34:8

You can only "see" that when you do things His way. When you do that, you will be able to see by experience that He is good.  I love you all. Shalom Ve'Shavuah Tov.