Shalom!

 
This week Moshe will point to the fact that the Israelites had first hand experience of the faithfulness of YHWH:
 
Devarim/Deuteronomy 29:2 Now Moshe called all Israel and said to them: "You have seen all that YHWH did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land -- 3 "the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders....5 "And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. 6 "You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am YHWH your Elohim. 7 "And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we conquered them. 8 "We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh.
 

If you read the above verses, you may have noticed that I left out verse 4:

 
Devarim/Deuteronomy 29:4 "Yet YHWH has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day.
 

 
Can you imagine? With every physical sense, they were given proof of the great love that YHWH Elohim had for them. Yet, YHWH had for some reason, withheld the ability for them to understand, hear, and see spiritually. The heart was not comprehending what the physical eyes were seeing. Meditating on the concept of being able to physically see His Hand at work, but not being able to discern spiritually what He is doing in our world, has made me so sad this week. What does it take to be given those spiritual senses?
 
Moshe was brilliantly expressing this "blind" truth in a negative way in order to express to the people that the Almighty's deeds are of no avail without the inward power to recognize and appreciate them. There is a heart that must be tender, by which we should be able to perceive His Presence and sense His works. In fact, in what is known as the Beatitudes, Yeshua gave us eight additional blessings (expounding on Devarim 28:1-14) all pointed at those whose heart desires spiritual discernment:
 
Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see Yah. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of Yah. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 
Yeshua did much of His teaching through parables. His disciples asked Him about this:
 
Matthew 13:10 And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" 11 He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
 
Yeshua spoke in parables because of the spiritual dullness of the people. He pointed out that this was all prophecy:
 
Matthew 13:13 "Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 "And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; 15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.'
 

 
Parables were given to both reveal and conceal truths. They were unsolved riddles to some, but highly illuminating illustrations to others. Http://www.jewishjewels.org writes concerning parables:
 
The use of parables in teaching is unique to rabbinic literature and the New Testament. Jewish literature at the time of Yeshua contains nearly five thousand rabbinic parables. When Yeshua spoke in parables (meshalim in Hebrew), He spoke out of the backdrop of His culture, in true rabbinic style. We were surprised to find out that over one third of Yeshua's teachings in the Gospels (mostly in Matthew and Luke) are parables. John contains at least two Hebrew-style parables - the Good Shepherd and the Vine and Branches. Mark has one, the Seed Growing in Secret.
 
...Parables give vivid word pictures. They are like mini-dramas. They use concrete illustrations from everyday life to reach the heart through the imagination. The primary purpose of meshalim is to teach people about the reality and nature of God and His ways. Through instructive comparison a mashal defines the unknown by what is known. Each parable is designed to make one point and usually calls for some kind of decision from the listener. Some of the parables of the Bible convey reproofs, which could not be given in any other way. Parables are truly Biblical gems.
 
In the book of Matthew, the author applies a prophetic verse in Psalm 78:2 directly to the Messiah:
 
Psalm 78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old
 
Matthew 13:35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: "I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world."
 

Just as our Father's desire was to reveal Himself to the Israelites, He continues to look for those who are ready for the revelation:

 
Mark 4:11 And He said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of Yah; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12 "so that 'Seeing they may see and not perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them.' "
 
Mark 4:34 But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.
 
The word "parable" is used in the Brit Chadash 50 times. Yeshua often spoke from a "spiritual" point of view, although often even His disciples thought He was speaking "literally":
 
Matthew 16:6 Then Yeshua said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." 7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread." 8 But Yeshua, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? 9 "Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? 10 "Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? 11 "How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." 12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
 
So what does this mean to us today? How can we obtain that "heart that perceives"? In this season of ELUL, it is the time to ask this question. Let us humble ourselves before Him in true repentance, and seek His grace to enable us to know Him and understand His marvelous works:
 
Philippians 3:10 I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death
 

And following are wonderful prayers for ourselves and others as we seek to give that spiritual understanding to our hearts:

 
Ephesians 1:17 that the Elohim of our Adonai, Yeshua the Messiah, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints
 
Philippians 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Messiah
 
Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Adonai Yeshua the Messiah, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height -- 19 to know the love of Messiah which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of Yah.
 

And the prayer from the beautiful Psalm 119:

 
Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your Torah.
 

As we have read in our Torah portion this week, the Almighty's Presence and provision can be physically obvious in our world. Yet He must first take us through the necessary trials and tribulations to prepare our hearts to receive spiritually. The hearing ear and the seeing eye is the result. It's called "restoration". I guess we could call it is a "restoration of the heart", i.e., a heart that He "circumcises":

 
Devarim/Deuteronomy 30:1 "Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where YHWH your Elohim drives you, 2 "and you return to YHWH your Elohim and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 "that YHWH your Elohim will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where YHWH your Elohim has scattered you. 4 "If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there YHWH your Elohim will gather you, and from there He will bring you. 5 "Then YHWH your Elohim will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6 "And YHWH your Elohim will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
 

No one has perfect spiritual sight. In fact, there are yet many awesome things yet to be revealed:

 
1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which Yah has prepared for those who love Him."
 
To YHWH be the glory, for without His restorative grace we would remain in the dark:
 
Proverbs 20:12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye, YHWH has made them both.
 
Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O Yah, And renew a right spirit within me.
 
And now, as the USA braces once again for a killer hurricane, we beg you to pray for those in its destructive path. Together we bow the knee and plead for Your mercy and discernment - physically and spiritually. Amen.
 

 
Shabbat Shalom!
Ardelle