What You See

“Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” Deuteronomy 6:4

What You See

Hear – The great shema.  Hear.  In this pivotal text of the Old Testament, we are introduced to a different view of life.  God’s paradigm is not our paradigm.  Life is not based on WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get).  From the moment God entered into the creative process, another model came into play.  Life is based on what you hear, not what you see.  It is the word (the audible word) that tells us the truth about life.  The evidence is not found in the visible.  It is found in what I hear from God.

This is a radical departure from our normal way of living.  It is so radical that we either ignore the implications or miss the point entirely.  So, let me say it again:  You cannot live the life God intended for you if you base your decisions on what you see.

Not what the news shows you.

Not what the accountant presents.

Not what the marketing guru forecasts.

Not what the government invents.

Not the laws or the verdicts.

Not the claims or guarantee.

Not the insider action.

Not anything that I see.

Truth is what God says.  Faith is acting on the basis of what God says even when the visible evidence points in another direction.

Shema assumes that I can hear and that I will respond to what I hear because God is the one who speaks.  Shema says that the God who spoke the world into existence is the same God who communicates to me.   When I make shema the foundation of my existence, the visible no longer carries the day.  Shema is what I trust.

The most radical shift that a human being can make is to move from the visible to the audible.  This shift changes everything, including what it means to be human.  Suddenly human life is the dialogue between my Creator and me.  Everything else is just colorful distraction.