In our Torah portion this week (i.e., parashat Eikev) we read: “But now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask from you … but to love him with all your heart and with all your soul?” (Deut. 10:12). But how are we able to love God be’khol levavka (בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ) – “with all our heart” – and be’khol nafshekha (וּבְכָל־נַפְשֶׁךָ) – “with all our soul,” apart from healing of the brokenness that makes our hearts divided and sick? That is what the redemption from Egypt was about: we were personally chosen by God, redeemed by his grace, led out from from cruel bondage, only to be led into the desert, away from the world, where we slowly began to understand that we were valued, cared for, and beloved of God. We believed in the possibility of promise, of covenant… Only then could we hear the request from heaven: “Now love Me…” In other words, we can only truly love God by knowing we are beloved by God, and the invitation to love him is a response of his great passion for you (1 John 4:19). Accept that you are accepted in the heart of the Beloved (Eph. 1:4-6).
Read more “You enlarge my heart…”