You will again obey the LORD and follow all his commands I am giving you today. — Deuteronomy 30:8

Each week in synagogue or at home, Jews read through the Torah from Genesis to Deuteronomy. The Torah portion for this week is a double portion, Nitzavim-Vayelech, from Deuteronomy 29:9–31:30. Nitzavim means “standing,” and Vayelech means “when he went.”

Judaism has a rich tradition of storytelling as a way to demonstrate important and inspirational life lessons. As a result, I grew up listening to many Jewish stories written over the centuries. One of my favourite tales is about a king who wanted to give his son a trove of treasures.

At the time, the young prince was not ready to receive such wealth, so the king decided to hide the treasure until his son grew up. However, the king died before revealing the location of the riches to anyone.

When the prince grew up and lived on his own, he noticed strange mistakes in the palace built for him by his father. This bothered the prince because he knew that his father had gone to great lengths to ensure everything in the palace was done perfectly – he had been meticulous about every detail.

One day, it dawned on the prince that his father hadn’t allowed any mistakes — if something seemed out of place, it was for a reason. Ultimately, the prince discovered that each deliberate mistake was actually a sign that pointed him to the buried treasure.

Everything that had appeared to be wrong turned out to have a very well-planned purpose.

So, too, in life, we often encounter scenarios that seem wrong and out of place. We ask how God could allow such things. But when we have faith in God, we can discover that everything has a purpose and fits into God’s perfect plan for us.

In this week’s portion we read, “You will again obey the LORD and follow all his commands I am giving you today.” Translated from Hebrew, the verse reads literally, “You will return to God and hear His voice.” The Jewish sages explained that when we return to God, we will hear His “inner voice.” We will understand how even things that appeared as mistakes to us were really part of a grand plan for our very best.

God doesn’t make mistakes – and when we follow Him with perfect faith, He will lead us to the great treasures stored away for us all along.

Your turn: Looking back on your life, can you see an instance where what seemed like something bad turned out to be one of God’s greatest blessings for you? Share what you learned from this in the comment section below.