LESSON 54: Heaven’s-Eye View

One of the more complicated issues to deal with, for a Torah Jew, is, “When does hishtadalus — personal effort — interfere with bitachon — trust in God?” On one hand, the gemora warns us not to rely upon miracles, either because the miracle won’t happen for us, or even if it does, it won’t come for free, but out of the reward we are destined to enjoy in the World-to-Come (Shabbos 32a).
On the other hand, the gemora, teaches:

All is in the hands of Heaven except for fear Heaven. (Brochos 33b)

This means that, no matter what kind of effort we make in just about every area of life, the results are beyond our control, except for one: fear of God. Heaven leaves success in that area of life up to us.
It does not mean that Heaven does not help out with our developing fear of God; it certainly does. As the Talmud states:

Anyone who comes to purify himself, they help him. (Shabbos 104a).

There can be no greater act of purification than striving to increase one’s fear of God.
However, it is important to realize that there are two types of fear of God, as the Ramchal points out in Mesillas Yesharim. The most common is not fear of God Himself, but the fear of punishment that He may inflict upon us for committing a sin. On such a level, if a person thinks God doesn’t see him committing the sin, or doesn’t relate to the fact that God is watching him, even if it seems as if He isn’t, he will commit the crime.
The second level of fear of God is far more sophisticated, and truer to the words, “yiras Hashem”. For, the word “yiras” can mean, “the seeing of,” as in “the seeing of God.” However, not so much as in our seeing of God, which, of course, is not possible, but the seeing of God, that is, how God sees, specifically how He views the world and history.
There are two ways to view reality, God’s way, and that of man’s. God, being omnipotent and omniscient, knows everything; there is nothing He can’t know. His perception of reality is 100 percent accurate, always was, and always will be. There is no such thing as misperception or misconception with respect to God.
This is not the case with respect to man. Man, though he often thinks he knows enough to correctly evaluate reality and the opportunity of the moment, usually doesn’t. When you consider how many times men have misunderstood history and its needs, it is a wonder that we are still here. Actually, it is a miracle.
The goal of any human being, if he or she is going to fulfill his or her potential, must be to be able to perceive reality as accurately as possible. We must try to bring our perception of reality in line with God’s, so that we can look at history through His eyes, so-to-speak. We must develop a Heaven’s-eye view of life; that is true yiras Shamayim.

Thursday, February 21, 2008