Re'eh

The posuk says that you will get beracha when you listen to the mitzvos of 'ה & cursed if you don't. Later on in the Torah it says ובחרת בחיים - and choose life. The ספרי asks, why does it have to tell us that? Isn't that obvious? He then brings a mashal of a person who was sitting at a fork in the road, & before him were two paths; one started off clear & ended in thorns, & one started off thorny & ended clear. Informing the passersby that even though you see that this path seems clear, in a few steps it will be rocky & thorny, but this other path, while rocky at first, will be clear in a few steps. So too, Moshe was saying to Klal Yisroel that even though you see reshaim that have it good for two or three days, that's only in olam hazeh; their end will be suffering. You also might see tzadikim that suffer for two or three days in olam haze, but ultimately their end is that they'll be happy.ר' צדוק asks, is it only for two or three days that we see tzadikim suffering or reshaim prospering? We know 'ה pays reshaim for their mitzvos here & pays the tzadikim for their minuscule aviros here so that in olam haba each one will get the full reward or punishment they deserve. So what does the analogy of two or three steps mean? The Posuk says,ראה אנכי נתן לפניכם היום ברכה וקללה See I put before you blessing & curse. הברכה אשר תשמעו the blessing that you will listen to the mitzvos of Hashem. והקללה אם לא תשמעו and the curse if you don't listen. וסרתם מן הדרך and go off the path of 'ה. The כלי יקר says the Posuk needs explaining, for normally when the Torah says that you should listen, it always follows with an active command of doing. For example, in Shema it says והיה אם שמע, & right after it says to serve with all your heart. Also, in last week's Parsha it said והיה עקב תשמעון & right after that it says you should observe and perform them.  Listening is really only accepting in your heart to do the mitzva, but that's not enough. You have to do an action. Like it says in the next posuk, והקללה אם לא תשמעו & right after it qualifies it by saying if you go off the path. What's the point of hearing a command if you're not going to observe it? In Lech L'cha, when 'ה tells אברהם to leave his home, He says to him, I will bless those who bless you & those that curse you will be cursed. If you notice, it says that to those who give a brocha, 'ה says, He's going to bless even before they blessed אברהם, but to curse it's only after they would curse him. The reason is, ה' gives credit for good things even if it's just a thought. So one who wants to bless will be blessed even before he does it. However, when it comes to cursing & doing bad, 'ה doesn't punish until a person actually does the bad deed. That's why only after they curse will they be cursed. With this we can understand our Posuk, says the כלי יקר. When it says the curses, it has to say when you don't listen & go off the path you'll get cursed, for 'ה won't punish unless one actually does the bad. But by the Bracha all one has to do is listen & accept to do good. That alone is enough for the Bracha to take effect & the Bracha itself will help you to fulfill your good intentions.
Maybe with this we can answer ר' צדוק's question, that what Moshe meant over here wasn't to answer the age old question why do bad things happen to good people, but to help us to choose the right path, telling us even though when you start to do the mitvos it might be hard, don't give up, for after a few days with the help of 'ה's beracha you'll start to enjoy doing them & then it will be smooth sailing. By sinning the converse is true. Although once one starts sinning it seems easy & fun to start, after a few days you start feeling depressed & bogged down by guilt. So maybe what the ספרי meant was, even though it looks like fun not to listen, that won't last. Let's take the opportunity to get the beracha & have 'ה's help to get through the rough beginnings in order to get to the end where we'll enjoy learning the torah & doing the mitzvos!