You must be blameless before the LORD your God. — Deuteronomy 18:13

The Torah portion for this week is Shoftim, which means “judges,” from Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9, and the Haftorah is from Isaiah 51:12–52:12.

Have you ever wished you could get a glimpse into the future and see what it brings? It’s tempting to want to know what lies ahead on our life’s path. However, as this week’s reading illustrates, in order to walk with God, we must not push ourselves ahead.

In this week’s Torah reading, God issued a prohibition against going to consult sorcerers. Scripture directs us: “You must be blameless before the LORD your God.”

This commandment seems to be telling us that we must remain without sin before God or we will suffer the consequences. The Hebrew word in the text translated as “blameless” is tamim, which literally means “whole,” or “wholehearted.” Based on this understanding the Sages reveal an alternative meaning for the verse. They translate it as follows: “You must trust the LORD your God wholeheartedly.”

In the context of verses which prohibit divination, the Sages understand that God is not merely teaching us to trust Him and rely on Him in times of need. Rather, God is telling us that part of trusting Him means not needing or trying to know the future. To trust God wholeheartedly means to know that whatever lies ahead will always be from God and will be exactly what we need for our own good.

I often think about the story of the widow who was helped by the prophet Elijah. In 1 Kings 17, in the midst of a severe famine, Elijah encountered a widow who told him that she was down to her last drop of food and that soon, she and her son would die of starvation. Elijah told the widow that God would take care of her and her son. He conveyed God’s promise that her jar of flour would never be empty and her jug of oil would never run dry until the famine was over.

Now, God could have instructed Elijah to lead the woman to a place stocked with many jars of flour and jugs of oil. God could have told Elijah to hand the woman a large sum of money. However, God wanted the widow’s provisions to come from a source that she could not see so that she would learn to trust God not just once, but every single day. She needed to have faith that although she could not see how, her future would be okay. God wanted the woman to learn to trust Him wholeheartedly.

Friends, no matter what you might be facing right now, trust that God will take care of your future. In difficult times, let us have faith that things will turn out alright. In good times, let’s also remember that things can change in a second if not for the grace of God.