Rashi interprets the pasuk as an admonishment against going to the pagans to discover the future. One should follow Hashem with simplicity, accepting His decree without question. The Piazesner Rebbe, zl, offers two approaches towards understanding this pasuk. Every individual accepts upon himself the resolution to do the right thing and live the proper way – in the future. “Tomorrow we will be good” is a popular aphorism among those who choose to defer their responsibility for the moment or simply to gloss over their current errors. The yetzer hora, evil inclination, attempts to persuade us to disregard the present, while focusing upon the future. In this manner, we indulge in the present as we place all of our “hope” in the future. The Torah responds to this incorrect attitude, “do not concern yourself with the future,” while permitting the present to waste away. One who attempts to mitigate his capricious behavior by saying he will be better the next day, probably will not.
The Rebbe offers a second insight, one that is consistent with his perspective and the situation in which he was living as he wrote this explanation. Confined to a concentration camp, he hid his writings on Chumash which were later printed as a sefer. He explains that when an individual is confronted with an eis tzarah, a situation of extreme affliction — be it persecution or serious illness — it is obviously easier to face the situation if one maintains hope that things will “work out” in the future. When all avenues for salvation have virtually collapsed, when the doctors have given up, when the enemy seems to be successful despite every attempt to vanquish him, then one tends to give up hope. Depression sets in when one feels that he has no escape, nothing for which to hope, nowhere to turn, no one who can or will help.
The Torah encourages us not to fall prey to the ominous threat of “no future”. Do not lose hope because you do not see anything for which to hope. Do not give up because the prospects for success are not real. Remember that Hashem is with you in every affliction; He shares your torment; He commiserates in your misery; He will bring about your salvation and He will deliver you from your pain. Do not concern yourself when you sense a bleak future, for Hashem’s redemption can come about within the blink of an eye. Place your wholehearted trust in Him, and He will respond to you.
