Am I doomed to Success?

In this Parasha, Moshe continues to tell Klal Yisroel - as they were now poised to enter The Land about the history of their travails thru the desert. He shared about G-d's love for us and the many blessings we received. And he reassured us that G-d will be with us and help us defeat our enemies as we enter the Land. In Chapter 7 verse 24, we learn that "HE will deliver their kings into your hands...and no man will stand up against you!"

In Chapter 8 verses 7 thru 10, Moshe tells us that Hashem is bringing you to a good Land..with streams of water..of wheat, barley, grape, fig, and pomegranate...where you eat bread without poverty - you will lack nothing there! You will eat and you will be satisfied."

Hey, count me in! Sounds great. Right? Not so easy...

In verses 11 to 18, Moshe warns us as follows:

“Take care lest you FORGET Hashem...

and your Heart will become Haughty

and you will forget Hashem”

"ורם לבבך"

Let’s consider how this Message speaks to us...

For those of us who are familiar with the "AA 12 Step Big Book", we know that we learn a very strong pattern of Cause & Effect. No matter what page you are on, Bill Wilson teaches us that the behavior of an addict can always be traced back to The Initial Cause.

We join the 12 Step Program - we think - because we have a very destructive behavior (we call it acting out) that we want to stop. And even though we have tried repeatedly to stop lusting, boozing, overeating, smoking, etc. we just can't stop. And it doesn't matter how good our life is - we could have a great job, an attractive and adoring wife, good health, popularity and more. But thanks to our dis-ease, we tear it all apart! We wonder why and then we think the cause is that everyone around us is stupid, mean, selfish and out to get us. We think the cause is that jerk and what they do to us. Once we do our work in the Program, we learn the cause is that our lives have become unmanageable and that causes us to Act Out! (please see Step One).

But we're really not done yet. We haven't yet discovered The Initial Cause. And that's where Parasha Eikev really speaks to us. On page 14 of the Big Book, we learn the FUNDAMENTAL INITIAL CAUSE when Bill teaches us that our Program is:

Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid. It meant destruction of SELF-CENTEREDNESS!

As we learn in Parasha Eikev, our real success, whether we're on our Road to the Promised Land or on our Road to Recovery is:

Destruction of our HAUGHTY HEART!!

Finally, let's reveal the Solution that Parashat Eikev and the Big Book give us how to destroy our Haughty Heart; as Bill says:

"I must turn in all thing to the Father of Light who presides over us all!"