Facing Uncertainty with God: A Message for Elul

Facing Uncertainty with God: A Message for Elul

In Parashat Shoftim, Moshe tells the people not to turn to sorcerers, fortune tellers, or anyone who claims to know the future.                            

The temptation to go to consult with them is very real.                                                       We are uncomfortable with uncertainty.                                                                              We want to know what’s coming.                                                  

We want clarity, control, reassurance.        

Moses tells us that’s not the right place to go to assistance with our discomfort.            When you run to sorcerers, you are replacing God.

Perhaps the feeling of discomfort that uncertainty brings is itself designed by God.     It’s part of our human experience.  

 Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, zt”l, put it so powerfully:

“Faith is not certainty. It is the courage to live with uncertainty."             

 In other words, God doesn’t want us to live with certainty.            

He wants us to live with trust and faith.

In Elul, every day, twice a day, we say the Psalm 27, “L’David Hashem Ori V’yishi.”         This prayer repeats this same message: we don’t know what will happen,

life is uncertain and so we must turn to God to find comfort and reassurance.               Our lack of clarity, our discomfort, can help move us closer to God.                                           

Moshe’s message is timeless:                                                      

Don’t trust the sorcerers and the necromancers.                                                                 Don’t run from your discomfort.                                              

Instead, use it as a motivator to strengthen your relationship with God.                                         

Elul is the perfect time for this.                                                

The Torah promises, “And God will circumcise your hearts.”                  

At this time, God promises to help us remove the blockages, the constrictors and the resistance to a closer, more intimate relationship with God.

So, when we feel that familiar discomfort of not knowing what will be with our health, our children, our money, our world,

instead of reaching outward for false certainties, let’s turn inward and upward.                                                                                              

Let’s allow uncertainty to push us toward faith, trust, and a more open heart with God.

That is the work of Elul,

 Much Love                                                                      

Shabbat shalom and Chodesh tov

Elissa