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"According to your faith be it done unto you..."
We are instructed to see small miracles, everyday "signs and wonders..." The sages say that a verse from our Torah portion suggests that everyone is obliged to recite at least 100 blessings a day: "... a hundred sockets for a hundred talents of silver, one talent per socket" (Exod. 38:27). The Gerer Rebbe comments, "Just as hundred sockets served as the foundation for the sanctuary, so daily blessings represent the soul's foundation in holiness."
In Jewish thinking, we "bless" God by offering our thanks, and thereby consciousness of life is sanctified. The Hebrew term for gratitude is hakarat tovah (הַכָּרַת טוֹבָה), a phrase that means "recognizing the good." The heart looks through the eye, and therefore how we choose to see is a spiritual decision: "If your eye is "single" (i.e., ἁπλοῦς, sincere, focused)," Yeshua said, "your whole body will be filled with light" (Matt. 6:22). When we see rightly, we will behold the radiance of God pervading our way, even in the midst of our mundane affairs (Isa. 6:3). A grateful heart is awake to God's Presence in the little things of life, those small miracles and glories that constantly surround us. And just as the manna would taste according to the gratitude of the person eating, so it is with the inner vision of truth: The good eye of faith sees hundreds of reasons to bless God for the precious gift of life. God is "enthroned among the blessings of His people" (Psalm 22:3).
The sages warn that in the case of doubt, however, one should not make a blessing that invokes God's Name, since doing so violates the commandment not to lift up the Name of the LORD for vain reasons. Ironically enough, those who make an "idol" out of the Name of God are lifting up the name in vain! It is preferable not to pray than to do so insincerely or without heart.... On the other hand, surely God invites our requests, and therefore a prayer offered be'emunah shelemah, with complete faith, will be heard in heaven. As it is written in the New Testament: "And this is the confidence (i.e., παρρησία, freedom to speak honestly) that we have with him, that if we ask anything according to his will he heeds us. And if we know that he heeds us in whatever we ask, we know that we presently have the requests that we have asked of him" (1 John 5:14-15).
If you want to see blessing, then you must open your eyes. The "commandment" here is more of a mitzvah, that is, an opportunity to connect with God's heart -- to become alive and awake! The idea is that you "get to" see the miracle, not that "you must" see it. It is always a choice to believe (Col. 3:15).
Hebrew Lesson
Prov. 11:27 Hebrew reading:
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