Transcript
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Have you ever found yourself in a
[clears throat] position where you
looked in front of you and said, "It's
impossible." Ever have that? It's
impossible. I can't do it's impossible.
How is a small little country going to
win a war on multiple fronts and face an
enemy that's hidden in tunnels? How is a
nation going to deal with hatred and
anti-semitism that is completely
irrational amongst people that we
thought would never do this? How can I
deal with the kids in my life, my
children that need much more than I can
give? You ever have this? People are
engaged in tragedy, in challenge, in
difficulty, and they look at it and go,
"It's impossible." No, literally, it's
impossible.
How do they do it?
So, this week's Torah portion, this
week's para tells us a secret. Listen to
this. It's unbelievable. This week's
para is paras Noah. The story of Noah is
there was a generation that went
completely crazy. Noah's generation was
completely corrupt. everyone and
everything. And for whatever reason in
God's wisdom, he needed to reset the
world. One man and his family were above
the rest. Noah and his family. And God
said, "We're starting again with you,
Noah. And here's what I'm doing. I'm
bringing a flood to wipe everybody out.
I need you to build an ark. Build a
tava. Put all the animals on the tava.
And we will start again after the
flood." And he commands them to build a
specific type of ark. It was a 300 AMOS
by 50 by 30 [clears throat]
which understand what that is 500 feet
around by 85 by 50 right that's a
football and a half football field and a
half fourstory house 80 85 ft across
right that's larger than any boat at the
time that's before Home Depot and Lowe's
before construction you can't
subcontract this out there's no lumber
yard you get hammers saws cranes means
none of that stuff. He's not he's
chopping down trees.
That's impossible for a man. He for a
man to do it. Not only that, he had to
put on thousands of species. And as big
as this thing was, zoos which have a a
portion of these animals are acres.
This is an impossible task. Times an
impossible task.
Why doesn't God just make it easier? If
he wants to wipe out the world, I don't
know. There's a mountain over here. No,
just go to this mountain. It's not gonna
take you 120 years to do it. Just take
all the animals and climb up the
mountain top and I'll just deal with the
bottom.
God couldn't have come up with a
thousand easier ways to reset humanity
than to have Noah spend 120 years doing
the impossible only to be done with an
ark that has the impossible task of
housing all the species.
Why make it so difficult for? Listen to
this insight. It's from a commentator
named Bakaya. And here's what he says.
And I'll read you the quote. He asks,
"Why would he do this if there if it's
impossible to fill all these animals
onto onto the tape, onto the ark?" And
here's what he says. It's a line that if
you hold on to your in your mind, it can
change the way you see the world. Here's
how it is.
He says it is the way of Torah which
which means it's the way of God
says to command humanity
that you should do everything in your
power
through nature
and what's lacking what's missing
you know what what God did it this way
because God is teaching us a lesson.
I'm going to put impossible in front of
you. This is the dera Torah. The way of
the Jewish path, the way of the Torah
path is what's before you is impossible.
It's impossible to survive in exile for
2,000. It is impossible to rebuild the
state. It is impossible to rebuild a
world after the Holocaust. It is
impossible to raise these kids, to make
this money, to deal with this tragedy,
to deal with this. It's impossible. It
is. It is naturally impossible.
That's your life.
I don't need you to do it. I'll tell you
what I need you to do. Put in your full
effort. You're under the bench. I'm
putting more weight than you can handle.
I don't need you to lift it off. I need
you to push it as hard as you can off
with every bit of your strength, and
I'll raise the rest through a hidden
miracle through you or through a
revealed miracle.
God is giving us the recipe of how we
survive in this world. He puts before us
the impossible.
And we look at it and go, there's no way
we can do this. That's not my job. My
job is to be fully engaged in it. To do
everything in my power to push my limits
beyond what I could thought was
possible.
God sees that and he fills in the rest
with a miracle.
Everyone in our lives, every one of us
has something before us that seems like
it's beyond us. That's normal. That's
how it works.
And if you look at it and go, "It's
impossible." And walk the other way,
you're missing it. What God wants is you
to look at it and go, "It's impossible.
Now I'm going 110%." And when God sees
that, we're learning from the story of
Noah. He is mashim. He fills up the rest
in miracle and we get it done. You look
at the miracle of the Jewish people.
It's not God splitting seas in front of
us. It's God operating through us. And
whatever each of us, whatever you're
going through, if it seems impossible,
that's normal.
Just engage in it. Push yourself to the
max. Try your hardest. And if it's
supposed to be, God will fill it in with
a miracle.
