Limitless, Part 3, Freed

February 20, 2022

Today's message was the third in a series called Limitless. A video of the message can be found here.

Let's start with the father of Abraham, Terah. Patrick mentioned at the outset of his message that Terah was called by God, but "settled" (for less, ostensibly). The brief story of Terah is in Genesis 11:24-32. It is clear in these verses that Terah does set out for Canaan (eventually the Promised Land), but they stopped, settled, in Haran. There is no mention here of a calling by God to go to Canaan nor is there a reason given for why he stopped in Haran (no connection to his son by the same name). Jewish tradition holds that Terah was likely a pagan idol maker and that he stopped in Haran because there was a market there for idols. This is suggested in Joshua 24:2. Their family history of "holding onto idols" seems to continue in Genesis 31:19. So whether called by God or instructed by Abraham or not, it does seem clear Terah "settled" for something other than his initial intention to go to Canaan.

Patrick hit the nail smack on the head with his notion that getting the Israelites out of Egypt was only the first part (saved) and that the second part was equally important, getting Egypt out of the Israelites (freed). This is a huge Torah message. And sadly, God/Moses were not able to "get the Egypt out" of the first generation, and that was why that generation was not allowed into the Promised Land. The 40 years in the wilderness was in large part making time for that first generation to die out. They had a slave mentality. They actually spoke of wanting to return to Egypt "where at least there was meat in our pots." This was not a people with the right attitude to carry on with God's plan. Afterall, God did not take the Israelites out of Egypt just to free slaves. He had plans for them to be a "light unto the nations," to carry God's revelation into the world.

That first generation had a very hard time being grateful. Prager jokes that the book of Numbers is called that because of the number of complaints. Ingratitude may be the worst of the human traits.

Patrick spoke of the triune human:

• body/physical: cravings, appetites, desires
• soul: mind, will, emotions
• spirit: God-like

His point was that when the spirit is saved, the other parts still have issues. Body and soul need freed from those issues. This reminded me of the Shema in Jewish life, a prayer said daily, particularly the part that comes from Deuteronomy 6:5-9. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." It's important to remember that in ancient Hebrew, the heart was the seat of the mind (kidneys were the seat of emotion). Soul refers to your "living being." And "might" (me'odeka) would be better translated as "muchness," that is, all you have at your disposal, your capacity, including your property. This is one of those untranslatable words packed with meaning. Think "with everything you've got." So the Shema triplet becomes mind, soul, and "all you've got".