Cheated By God?

[00:00:04] Speaker A: I wonder if you ever read things in the Bible that have you confused or maybe things that sort of, maybe even bother you. I encountered one of those texts this week in the Torah portion, speaking of Abraham. [00:00:29] Speaker B: It kind of has me feeling a little misled. [00:00:34] Speaker A: At a minimum, it leaves me with some very real questions. When I read this text in Genesis. [00:00:40] Speaker B: 25 that says, Abraham breathed his last and died in ripe old age, aged. [00:00:48] Speaker A: And satisfied, and was gathered to his people satisfied. Sava in Hebrew, full, full, complete content. [00:01:00] Speaker B: The text does not say that he died resigned. It does not say that he died even hopeful that there was more. He simply, he died satisfied. And maybe you can see it. I'll point out why I think that. [00:01:19] Speaker A: Sounds outrageous to me. Do you see it? This is a man who was promised nations, plural, like nations that would come from his body, a nation from his. [00:01:38] Speaker B: Body, that he would be the father of many, many nations. God told him his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens, the sand on the seashore. He's promised a land, not a plot. He's promised a land, an inheritance for his offspring forever. Told that through him all the families. [00:01:58] Speaker A: Of the earth would be blessed. [00:02:02] Speaker B: And these were not maybes. These were out of the mouth of God. These were promises, covenanted promises. [00:02:11] Speaker A: And when Abraham died, he had one son of promise. He had two sons. He had one son of promise, not nations. One son that was supposed to be a multitude. [00:02:28] Speaker B: He owned exactly one piece of real. [00:02:32] Speaker A: Estate, a burial cave that he had to get ripped off to get, basically to beg to pay this exorbitant price. [00:02:46] Speaker B: To a man who was gouging him. [00:02:48] Speaker A: In the grief of the loss of his wife. Chayei Serah is. This week's Torah portion starts with the death of Sarah, but the Torah portion actually is called the life of Sarah. You can study that another time. [00:03:01] Speaker B: The gap between what he received and what he was promised was so wide you could drive a nine wide camel caravan through it. And the Torah has the boldness, the audacity to say he died satisfied. [00:03:23] Speaker A: I studied some commentary, of course. [00:03:26] Speaker B: You know what Rashi has to say about this? [00:03:30] Speaker A: Nothing. Which is weird. [00:03:34] Speaker B: He does not comment on the verse Ramban Nachmanides. He writes, he witnessed the fulfillment of all the desires of his heart and was sated with good things. What, what book, what Genesis did he get ahold of? What Bible is he reading? If that had been me, I think I might have had some questions. I might even have died with some bitterness, if I'm honest with you. You promised me nations I got a kid, you promised me a land. I got a cave, you promised blessings. My wife died. My nephew turned into a disaster. I spent half my life wandering around with no real permanent home. But somehow Abraham died. [00:04:35] Speaker A: Satisfied now, is the Torah misleading us? Of course not. [00:04:40] Speaker B: He really did. But how? Why? [00:04:46] Speaker A: And it seems obvious for us looking back that all of those things happened right? [00:04:52] Speaker B: We can easily say, well, yeah, why not? He got it all. But in the moment, and I think. [00:04:59] Speaker A: The key to understanding that is also a key to understanding some broken things about our culture and possibly in our own lives. And here is the nasty word for today, the poison of entitlement. We are living through an epidemic of entitlement. Humans have always been this way, but it's more and more and more. And I want to be clear by what I mean by that word, because it's so overused that it doesn't. People lost its power. [00:05:31] Speaker B: Entitlement is the belief that you are owed something. Not that you've earned it or not by just by the fact that you are, by the fact that you exist. Some people think by your effort, your perception, your circumstances, that the universe, God owes you what it is that you. [00:05:56] Speaker A: Want or a particular outcome. First off, that is not true. Secondly, that way of thinking will eat you up from the inside out. [00:06:08] Speaker B: Entitlement tells an employee, I came to. [00:06:12] Speaker A: Work, I deserve the promotion. [00:06:16] Speaker B: It doesn't matter that there's someone extremely. [00:06:20] Speaker A: More qualified than you who did an. [00:06:22] Speaker B: Extremely higher level of work. [00:06:26] Speaker A: No. Entitlement shows. [00:06:31] Speaker B: The spouse tells the spouse, I've showed up, I've been faithful, my marriage should be easy. [00:06:39] Speaker A: Never mind the hard work of intimacy, never mind the seasons of incredible difficulty that relationships face that you must navigate. [00:06:48] Speaker B: You're entitled to happiness because I've been good to you. [00:06:56] Speaker A: An entitlement tells a believer, I prayed, so God should hear me. [00:07:02] Speaker B: God should provide what I want. [00:07:04] Speaker A: Never mind his timing or his wisdom or his foreknowledge and omniscience and all. [00:07:08] Speaker B: The facts that he can see way down the end of the caravan, way down at the end of the parade, and you're standing there watching it walk by. Don't worry about that. I want it. And I've prayed and I've prayed hard and I've prayed with faith and I should get it. [00:07:29] Speaker A: And that sounds very shallow. And you're saying to yourself, well, that's not me. But a lot of times it can be us and we don't know it in whatever area of entitlement. And here's what's really. [00:07:43] Speaker B: That it sort. [00:07:43] Speaker A: Of sounds like faith sometimes when people do that in this, in religious context. Right. It sounds like confidence. It's sort of the old name it, claim it thing, which was really nothing more than I'm going to say it enough till I get what I want, because God owes it to me. And that's the economy of God as I see it. That's bogus, that's wrong. It's the opposite of faith. It says, God, I know better than you about when and how, and I know what I deserve and I know what the timeline should be. And if you don't deliver, then you've failed me. [00:08:19] Speaker B: Entitlement makes you the judge of God. [00:08:23] Speaker A: Is that a position you think that you can merit to stand in? There will always be be something that doesn't go your way. [00:08:37] Speaker B: Always. [00:08:39] Speaker A: And when you make yourself the judge of God or an entitled satisfaction becomes impossible. There's always a promise that won't be fulfilled. There's always a gap between what you expected and what you received in some circumstance, not always. [00:08:53] Speaker B: And within that way of thinking, whether it's with God or whether it's with your life in general, you become bitter. [00:09:00] Speaker A: You become resentful, you become convinced that God or life cheated you out of something. [00:09:07] Speaker B: And looking back on your life, you become anything but satisfied because you can. [00:09:11] Speaker A: Only see the lack. Now here's how Abraham thought differently. Listen. [00:09:15] Speaker B: Prior to that, in 25, about dying satisfied, in chapter 24, it says Abraham was old, advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed him in all things. [00:09:27] Speaker A: Again. [00:09:31] Speaker B: How can he say that he didn't have all the things? [00:09:36] Speaker A: And I believe it's simply because Abraham understood these two fundamental things. Everything is a gift and faithfulness is the assignment. And I'm going to show you that real quickly today. Maybe not real quickly. Let's see how it goes. Everything is a gift. Truth number one. This isn't a gratitude message, but you could never have enough of those. Abraham operated from this conviction that he. [00:10:03] Speaker B: Was actually entitled to nothing. Not breath, not land, not descendants, not. [00:10:12] Speaker A: You know, everything was a gift. [00:10:14] Speaker B: The ancient rabbis writing in the Mishnah. [00:10:17] Speaker A: And Pirkei Avot Ben Zoma understood this. [00:10:19] Speaker B: Who is rich? He who is satisfied with his lot. [00:10:24] Speaker A: Not he who has the most, not he who accumulates the most, he who. [00:10:28] Speaker B: Is satisfied with his portion. And the psalm that he quotes when he's giving this idea. He says, when you eat the toil of your hands, you're fortunate. [00:10:38] Speaker A: And it is good for you. Fortunate in this world, good for you in the World to come. I'll come back to that in one second. [00:10:47] Speaker B: This is a Midah. This is a Musar idea called sameach behelko. Happiness, contentment in your portion. [00:10:59] Speaker A: It's recognizing that being satisfied is of course, not coming from getting more. He that loveth money shall not be satisfied with money. Little King James eth for you there. But it's not just money, is it? It's not just money. It's success, it's recognition, it's pleasure. There's a long list of things which we, you know, pursue with vim and vigor. And when we do not achieve them or get them, we feel an uneasiness. But that, like I said, that's too easy. We all know that we should be content. [00:11:44] Speaker B: We should say thank you. We should not covet. That's in the Ten Commandments. Okay, let's get to something with some meat here. Rabb. [00:11:55] Speaker A: Is this one of those messages where. [00:11:56] Speaker B: I suggest to you that you do absolutely nothing, that you just resign yourself to what falls in your lap because that's God's will, and I just accept it, I'm happy with it? [00:12:08] Speaker A: Not exactly. [00:12:09] Speaker B: Because we have to see the other. [00:12:11] Speaker A: Beautiful flip side of what Abraham's demonstrating for us here, the other side. [00:12:16] Speaker B: And I've given you messages so far this year in this Torah cycle about Abraham's kind of questionable faith. [00:12:23] Speaker A: At times we looked at that. And so I certainly owe it to Abraham to show you his absolutely incredible commitment to calling, even in the absence of reward. And the second part is simply to say the great truth that being faithful, the faithfulness for Abraham was the assignment that God had called Abraham to faith, to walk, not to results. [00:12:50] Speaker B: And God said to Abraham, go to the land. That was the assignment. Not to conquer it, not to possess it, not to develop it into a thriving nation. Just go. Just go. And he said, I'll make you a great nation. And Abraham's assignment was to take what was given through Isaac and raise him. [00:13:12] Speaker A: Up and do that one thing in the way of the Lord. [00:13:15] Speaker B: Not to manufacture it, not to force the timeline, not to solve God's problems of how do we get from one kid to many, just to be faithful. [00:13:24] Speaker A: With the one son. And here's the thing. [00:13:26] Speaker B: God makes promises, but it's not our. [00:13:28] Speaker A: Job to fulfill them. That's very obvious. I realize our assignment is to be faithful and responsible to those. [00:13:36] Speaker B: The fulfillment is God's job. [00:13:38] Speaker A: The faithfulness is ours. And here's the radical component. [00:13:42] Speaker B: Abraham died before those things came to pass. He never saw nations. He Never possessed the land beyond that cave. He never witnessed his descendants filling the earth. But he died satisfied. Because satisfaction didn't come from the results. It came from the doing for him. It came from the doing, the walking out. He had answered the call. He left Ur. He trusted the promise. He raised Isaac in the knowledge of God. He secured a small piece of land in the land, and he was satisfied to leave the rest in God's hands. Rabbi Hirsch says one should derive satisfaction from the knowledge that one has faithfully used one's abilities for the advancement of one's skills and learning. For God evaluates the achievements of each of us solely in terms of the extent to which one has made good. [00:14:39] Speaker A: Use of your abilities. It's a long quote. [00:14:45] Speaker B: And man. Does that sound familiar? There's this thing that comes along. It's called the parable of the Talents. Do you remember it? It's Jesus talking, and he says, listen, it's gonna be like a man going on a journey. He called his servants. He entrusted to them property to one. He gave five talents, two to one, another to one. And the one who received five talents came forward bringing five more and saying, master, you delivered to me five talents. Here, I made five talents more. [00:15:18] Speaker A: What did his ma say? Well done, good and faithful servant. [00:15:24] Speaker B: Now question, where is the part where the servant is given the promise of what he'll get out of this? There's actually. [00:15:32] Speaker A: That's after the fact. [00:15:35] Speaker B: That's after he had done the work. That's after he invested and just took what was given and did what he could do in his power to expand it. His power. Do you understand that? He did it. And then the master said, I am so proud of you. You expected nothing, but you just did the work. Imagine a society like that. My God in heaven. Can you imagine it? [00:16:09] Speaker A: That's Abraham. [00:16:12] Speaker B: He was the good and faithful servant. You look at how he acts when Sarah dies. [00:16:20] Speaker A: All the promises, all the promises. The land. [00:16:24] Speaker B: He needs a place to bury his wife. And what does he not do? Okay, he has this Ephron guy who owns the land in Canaan. And he doesn't go up to Ephron and say, hey, this is my land. God gave it to me. Give me the land. Give me what I want. And then when Ephron totally tries to gyp him for 400 shekels, he doesn't say, hey, God gave me this land. You can't do that to me. You know what he does? He takes out his wallet with all of this exorbitant cash that he should never have to pay. And he plops it down and says, here it is. I did my part. There's something in the land that's ours, and I can bury my wife there. I started it. God can finish it. [00:17:26] Speaker A: Remember entitlement. [00:17:27] Speaker B: God promised me this land. [00:17:34] Speaker A: If you've heard me teach for more than six months, you've definitely heard me say, it is what it is. And how do we finish it at Shalom Makin? But it will be what you make it. I've told you many times where I saw that standing just over the urinal in the bathroom at a. In an island. And now as I look back on it, I'm certain that was some kind of joke. But for me. [00:18:17] Speaker B: In that moment, I didn't actually get it. But then I walked out and I sat down with Kelly and I said, I can't. Do you know what I just read? And from that moment, it is what it is, but it will be what you make. It was anchored into my mind. And that was 10 years ago. That phrase has stayed with me almost more than any other bit of wisdom that I've ever had from the urinal. It is what it is, but it will be what you make it. And Abraham, my goodness, did he live that out? Because he never stopped working. We talked about real faith, right? He had challenges, he had questions. He struggled. We talked about them. But he still kept walking. He still kept doing. It is what it is. That's the first half. The acknowledgement of reality, the death of entitlement, the acceptance that you don't get to control all the outcomes. You just don't. Or even when God's promises come to pass, believe it or not, Abraham's reality was exactly what it One son, no nations, small bit of land. Promises made, not fulfilled. It is what it is. Doggone it, he could have stopped there, but he didn't. [00:19:55] Speaker A: He could have died resentful. He could have been bitter. He could have said, well, God didn't come through for me. God failed me. But he didn't. Because of the second half. Because of the second half. It will be what you make it. Listen to this. This is the declaration of agency that every human being should own. [00:20:18] Speaker B: You must be the agent in many. [00:20:22] Speaker A: Times of your way forward. [00:20:26] Speaker B: You must do the work, no matter what it is. [00:20:32] Speaker A: It is what it is. So he bought the cave. He secured the foothold. [00:20:41] Speaker B: He sent his wife, his servant, to find a wife. He blessed the son. He safeguarded what he'd been given. He trusted God. And here's the thing. He why wasn't Abraham bitter? Here's something remarkable. Because he didn't have time to complain or be bitter. He was too busy doing the things he was supposed to do to sit around and complain about it. He's too busy getting busy. That's to be admired, that's to be emulated. The fixation on externals, on things outside your control, whether it's recognition, results, rewards, there's a hidden cost because it consumes the time and energy that you could spend actually accomplishing something. Do you hear that? [00:21:32] Speaker A: That's. [00:21:32] Speaker B: You gotta hear that. The time you spend complaining could be better spent doing something to move the needle. [00:21:50] Speaker A: That servant in Yeshua's parable who did nothing, things didn't go well for him. That's not Abraham. It wasn't. It is what it is. And I believe this is where his joy came from, his end of life satisfaction. Do you know where it was from being a co laborer? Me and God, Me and God, we're in it together. [00:22:16] Speaker B: That's the mindset. Not God is some cosmic vending machine that you tap your prayer chip card up against and all of a sudden you get your spiritual candy. And not God as a distant observer, but God as a partner where you commit to doing your part and you trust him to do his. And entitlement robs you of that gift. [00:22:47] Speaker A: It takes your eyes off what you can control, the work, the faithfulness, the showing up. [00:22:52] Speaker B: And it fixates you on only what. [00:22:54] Speaker A: Is out of your control and what you can't do. And when you attach your identity to outcomes you don't control, you know what you are going to be? [00:23:05] Speaker B: Unsatisfied, dissatisfied. [00:23:08] Speaker A: Today, tomorrow and at the end of your life. I promise you that. Because those outcomes you won't get the promotion. Sometimes the recognition often does not come the relationship. Sometimes they don't work out. [00:23:29] Speaker B: The prayer won't be answered on your timeline. [00:23:31] Speaker A: And if your sense of worth is that, you're going to be devastated. [00:23:35] Speaker B: Never made the mistake. He didn't make the mistake. He had some questions. Yes. I'm not backing up on what I said previously. You can have questions, you can have discussions, you can ask God to give you some faith oomph along the way. [00:23:49] Speaker A: When things get difficult, you can do that. But his worth was not measured in results. Dr. Viktor Frankl Man's Search for Meaning. [00:24:03] Speaker B: Every time I say the title, I. [00:24:04] Speaker A: Tell you you have to read it. [00:24:05] Speaker B: And I've read it multiple times and there are so many quotes, but this was one I had Never come across Dr. Frankl wrote this book, developed this logotherapy and did all this stuff. And he wrote this book. And he was shocked by how many people read Man's Search for Meaning and the millions of people that were moved by it. Auschwitz survivor writing a book. Psychiatrist. But here's what he said after it sold millions of copies. He reflected on a success of his book. And you know what he said? [00:24:40] Speaker A: Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you're gonna miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued. It must ensue. [00:24:56] Speaker B: It only does so as the unintended. [00:24:59] Speaker A: Side effect of one's dedication. I know so many successful people in the world who are moved not by the success, but by what they can bring, what they can offer to the world. And this also is cliche. We know this, of course, but so few people do that. That quote is so beautiful. Success cannot be pursued. It must ensue from your willingness to constantly move forward. There are down times, there are valleys. I get it. I acknowledge it. Some of you may be there now. Abraham. Not the outcome, the obedience, not the result, but the response. Not the fulfillment, but the faithfulness. And so guess what? This will come as a big surprise to you. The Torah is not lying to us. Abraham died satisfied because he understood these things and he was willing to do it. He could be satisfied because he did what he was asked. And in so doing, his legacy, the legacy that he took steps to secure, was now in the hands of God, who promised it would be. And he made it. God made it be. We can look back with hindsight. You know, the rabbis have said in the midrash on Genesis, they said, the. [00:26:34] Speaker B: Holy One, blessed be he, shows the. [00:26:36] Speaker A: Righteous in this world the reward he is destined to give them in the coming world. And their souls become full and they fall asleep. You understand what they're saying, right? They're saying that before you die, God shows you the legacy that you will leave in the world. And you can fall asleep, die satisfied. Do you remember what Yeshua said about Abraham? Abraham looked forward and saw my day and rejoiced. You think about the beautiful picture. At the end of his life, his sons, particularly his son Isaac, buried him in the field he had acquired to secure a foothold in the land next to his wife Sarah, who truly was the miracle that God promised. There's something moving about that. [00:27:43] Speaker B: The cave he bought, the wife God gave him, the son who would carry small things by the big promises, but massive things in his mind. I Will do my best. [00:27:55] Speaker A: I have to rely on God for the rest. That's a little cheesy, but remember it. So here's the question, and I'll take us out with this. How will you die? Hopefully for none of us, it's soon. But how will you go out bitter. Cataloguing all the ways that life didn't go according to your plan. All the prayers that didn't come through. [00:28:26] Speaker B: All the promises you didn't get, all. [00:28:28] Speaker A: The people who disappointed you, all the passed by opportunities. [00:28:32] Speaker B: Or could you die satisfied knowing this one thing? [00:28:35] Speaker A: I showed up whenever I could. Gosh, doesn't that feel so much more freeing and beautiful? [00:28:43] Speaker B: Dying satisfied, knowing I showed up? I did my part. I partnered with God to the best of my ability, even when I couldn't see the end game. And I was a good and faithful servant. [00:28:58] Speaker A: That's how I want you to die. That's how I want to die. Satisfied. Then you start asking, what can I control? And you do those things. You do your part. You work the land in front of you, even if it's a cave. You raise the son in front of you, even as just a boy. You take the step in front of you, even if you can't see exactly where you're going. [00:29:22] Speaker B: God promised you a strong marriage. [00:29:26] Speaker A: Then do the hard work, man. No secret strategies. Things you need to know. We've got exciting things on the horizon about that, by the way, here at Shalom, Macon. [00:29:40] Speaker B: But marriage is about work. And it's about being in charge of what you can control. [00:29:45] Speaker A: That you bring blessing and benefit to another soul. God promised you provision. Then here's what Abraham would say. Work. [00:29:57] Speaker B: Do the work. Don't stand there demanding that God drops. [00:30:02] Speaker A: Manna from heaven into your bank account. [00:30:05] Speaker C: Work. [00:30:06] Speaker B: God promised you purpose. Then Abraham would say, show up. Figure it out. Do it. Even if it's unclear. Do it. Here are some hard words. [00:30:18] Speaker A: You ready? Say this with me. [00:30:21] Speaker B: I am not entitled. [00:30:28] Speaker A: How does that make you feel? I am not entitled to see the fruit. I am not entitled to recognition. [00:30:35] Speaker B: I am not entitled to breath. I am not entitled to outcomes matching my expectations. Life is a gift. And do you know what? [00:30:47] Speaker A: Just because of that, you are not entitled to it. [00:30:53] Speaker B: Who receives a birthday gift and says, thank you, I'm entitled to this. That's not the way gifts work. Someone gives you a gift, you didn't earn it. You're not entitled to it. But here's what you are. Here's what I want you to say. I am empowered. Say it. I am empowered. Now we're going to put them together. I am not entitled. [00:31:23] Speaker A: But I am empowered. [00:31:25] Speaker B: Empowered by God. Empowered by God's spirit. Empowered by an intellect, empowered by a holy Spirit, empowered by desire and even your earthly animal instincts that we use to our advantage to do great things in the world. I am empowered by these things, but. [00:31:46] Speaker A: I will never be entitled to them. To those things. Nobody likes these kind of messages. [00:31:53] Speaker B: Usually we won't get a lot of likes. And I want some likes. I'm entitled to likes because I worked really hard to put this together. You guys smash that like button. [00:32:15] Speaker A: That's okay. That's okay. [00:32:18] Speaker B: You know why? [00:32:19] Speaker A: Because I did the work to show up and give you what I'm giving you. Up to you. From here, Abraham understood It's all a gift. Everything's a gift. Which means you're entitled to none of it. And paradoxically, when you stop feeling entitled. [00:32:34] Speaker B: To outcomes, you actually begin to engage with the life that's in front of you. It's moral, miraculous. [00:32:42] Speaker A: It is what it is because life often will be that way. Okay? But it will be what you make it. You and God together. You doing your part, him doing his. You showing up, him working out the fulfillment. That's the path. Dying satisfied, that's the path. And he showed us it's possible. He showed us it's enough satisfaction. Now, here's a very bold statement from Rabbi Sacks, and this is the conclusion. Ready? [00:33:16] Speaker B: Now. [00:33:17] Speaker A: As then he writes, the divine promise does not mean that we can leave the future to God. That idea has no place in the imaginative world of the Torah. To the contrary, the covenant is God's challenge to us, not ours to God. The meaning of the events of Abraham in Hayes Sarah is that he realized that God was depending on him. Faith does not mean passivity. [00:33:49] Speaker B: It means the courage to act and never be deterred. The future will happen, but it is we, inspired, empowered, given strength by the promise who must bring it about now. You can choose to believe that if you want to. [00:34:05] Speaker A: I know it's controversial for some people, I believe it. Those words resonate. And so do your part. Trust God with the rest. And one day, by God's grace, we all will breathe our last, aged full of years and satisfied, and be gathered to our people. Shabbat Shalom. [00:34:41] Speaker C: I'm Darren with Shalom Macon. If you enjoyed this teaching, I want to ask you to take the next step. Start by making sure you subscribe to our channel. Next, make sure you hit the like button on this video so that others know it's worth their time to watch last Head over to our website to learn more about Shalom Macon, explore other teachings and events, and if you're so inclined, contribute to the work that we're doing to further the Kingdom. Thanks for watching and connecting with Shalom Macon.