It says Moshe Rabbeinu was at the burning bush. Moshe Rabbeinu is walking by and sees a burning bush. He says, “Let me go there to see. Let me see this fire. What’s happening?” There’s a fire in the bush. It’s burning, but it’s not getting consumed. Hashem sees that he’s coming towards the bush and says, “Don’t get close. Instead, what you should do is first take off your shoes, and then you could come close.”
The Chafetz Chaim says, “What’s this dialogue between Hashem and Moshe Rabbeinu?” He says, “Here’s what Moshe Rabbeinu was saying.” Moshe Rabbeinu was seeing something that looks superhuman: a fire in a bush, and the bush isn’t burning. Moshe Rabbeinu says, “That means I need to change my level. I need to rise to another level in order to be able to see this vision. Where I am now, the person I am now, cannot comprehend what Hashem is doing or what I’m looking at. I must step up a level in order to be that person.” Hashem says, “No, no. I wouldn’t show this to you now if you are incapable of seeing it now. Don’t come; you do not have to change. You don’t have to change your level in order to come close.”
You know what the only thing you need to do in order to see this vision of Hashem? You want to know the only thing you need to do in order to be able to, on some level, comprehend the burning bush? The sneh (bush). He says all you have to do is take off your shoes. It says in the Chafetz Chaim, it doesn’t mean take off your shoes. Take off your gashmiyut. Take off your obsession with your physical needs, with your luxuries, and the houses and the money and the distractions. If you could take off your shoes, you could see anything.
The message is the same to you. If Hashem put you in a situation now, if Hashem gave you confusion now, if Hashem gave you a decision now, it means that you’re capable of making that decision and having clarity now. You don’t have to be 10 years older. You don’t have to be 20 years smarter. You don’t have to wish your father was still alive. You don’t have to wish you could have a conversation with your mother. You don’t have to be able to reach a rabbi that’s not answering the phone. Obviously, you have the tools to see it clearly. But you got to get your gashmiyut needs out of here. You have to remove a little bit your obsession with your stuff and your finances and your success. That has to leave the room.
Sometimes, in order for it to leave the room, you can see it. You can do it. Sometimes you need your spouse to help you see it. Sometimes you need to reach that rabbi. You need to drive down to him if that’s what it takes. Or you need to reach a different rabbi who’s reachable. You have to be able to create an ability to see. Because life is not an easy place, and life is not a clear place at all.
Almost every one of us, if we were unequivocally sure what the truth is and what the right thing is, we would do it. The problem is a lot of us are often not sure. We’re not sure what’s right and what’s wrong. And even if it’s right, we don’t know how to do it necessarily perfectly right. When it’s all it’s purity. And sometimes, even if we think this is right, the results are so much in the other direction—how can I not follow the results? Hashem made this incredible test. It’s called results. And when you see other people’s results, that motivates you to imitate them.
But life is a tough experience. And you have to be able. Hashem, wherever you are, you are able to see. You’re able to see and achieve the clarity you need. You just have to be honest with yourself. You just have to get your bias out of it. You have to get your rationalization out of it. You have to get your obsession with possessions out of it. You have to be able to rise above and say, “I just want to see the emet. I just want to see the truth. I’m going to do everything in my power to figure out what is the truth.” When you do that, you’ll find it.