Why God Complicates Your Life

you ever been in the backseat of a car and slowly over time lose confidence in the competence of the driver anybody ever experience that in an uber you're driving along and suddenly you pass your exit and you're like a puppy in the window going my meeting or maybe you're on your phone and you think you're heading downtown but as you look up the sceneries got more rural you're like I don't remember there being chickens and Noma you kind of hit that moment where the more aggressive of us just asked the person up front hey man do you know where you're going or the more passive in us start saying things like so how long have you been driving have you been doing this long you new to the city and but over time your lack of confidence in their driving starts to become lack of competency in the driver right you start looking at their app to see if it's recalculating you plug in your Google Maps you start checking their name their face is this truly Ronaldo you know you're looking on is this my guy you start checking the locks on the door if I got to make a quick exit and you start looking around and what happened lack of confidence and Direction steals your lack of confidence and the character of the driver now if that's happened to you in an uber I know if that's ever happened to you happen to me maybe never happened to you what's the worst that happens for many of us the worst is you lose five minutes ten minutes you're late little bit frustration of the day you move on but it's a different thing when you feel like God is doing that to you anyone ever been there where you look at your story and you say God what are you doing the guy remember for me when I left high school and showed up at college I showed up in a town I wasn't familiar with I wasn't sure about the school I kind of picked it a bit at random got into a major I was unclear about suddenly didn't really have any friends who's having trouble getting along with some different people and then my girlfriend broke up with me and I remember six months in I thought you went to college for this new fresh sense of vision and direction and the best years of your life and I showed up in oh my god this is a strange city I'm doing strange things with strange people I got no friends God what are you doing anybody ever felt that go you detoured me God what's happening you ever felt like he just threw you in the back seat of the car locked the doors and started driving a direction you too did not agree on what do you do then when that direction starts to steal your competency in the driver you go wait a minute why am I not married yet and my plan I would have met the one by now and you've been driving me somewhere else you go hey I should be the leader of this organization right now I am more confident than all the rest of these people I know many of you've never said that out loud but she have thought it if you live here in DC you've probably thought it a lot why am I not running this yet that you look at your life and I was supposed to be further by now I'm supposed to be here suppose to be making this much I'm supposed to be there I'm supposed to accomplish that I'm supposed to have this be true of me God I'm meant to go there and you keep driving me here I should be at success and I'm out in the wilderness where are you taking me God and it gets real tricky if you come from a religious background and you weave that in and say hey I've been a good person so why aren't you leading me where I want to go and what do we do when we feel like God has detoured our life in a direction we didn't want to go what do we do well we're talking about that this morning I don't if you realize that that's where we are in the book of Exodus then if you read Exodus some of you may look at it you go no Ben we're in the good news part we're indeed they were captives in Israel or in Egypt and God is about to set Israel free walk them through that water and lead them into the Promised Land this is the celebratory chapter this is one they make movies about this is the awesome moment and yet read the text you see that after God sends plague after plague to loosen Pharaoh's grip on God's people God leads them out they plunder the Egyptians take their gold and begin to walk out and then the text tells us as they went out they're leaving and if you look at a map they're leaving Egypt and they're heading north to what the Old Testament calls the Promised Land land that God had promised to the people of Israel generations ago they're now gonna get to it in a world full of desert they're leading one green space and do another one and you don't even have to be good at maps to go okay if I'm trying to go more the quickest way to me seems to be north and we can walk along that little waterfront it's green the whole way we're just kind of on a Mediterranean coast until we get into this green area that's great and yet our Bible just told us when Pharaoh let the people go God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines although it was near it says but God led them around by the way of the wilderness he says I want to take you north by going south you look kind of sense at me and then the text goes on and God tells them hey turn back and encamped in front of PI higher off between McDonald maseeh and I know some of you read that we're like that is ridiculous why would they camp at mid Dahl between the sea I know right but for those of you maybe aren't familiar with ancient geography what God's doing is having them wander around in circles in the desert and he says hey Moses lead him out and as your first lack of leadership lead him out is hasn't been turned back and walk around and then the Texas for Pharaoh will see this and say they are wandering in the land cuz the wilderness has shut them in hey Moses I want you to lead them in circles so that when Pharaoh sees that he's like these guys are lost how's that feels the leader lead your people into confusion Moses what kind of leadership is that it's gonna be awkward look I remember I grew up in Houston Texas we used to go to the livestock show and rodeo and they'd always have concerts this big stage in the middle of this arena and people would always lead out there and then they would always like drive up a Cadillac and they would sit in the back of this convertible and wave at the people as they drove them out these cattle stalls the only person who never rode in the Cadillac was George Strait because it is the ultimate cowboy and he would leave stage on a mounted horse he'd be done singing all his hits and just hop on a horse and ride away waving his hat like that that's a cowboy I'm not even that into country music but you got to respect it and he would just ride around the ring and then exit and triumph and then one year lyle lovett decided to ride out on a horse risky gets on there little awkward on the horse little light you've been doing this a while Lyle and they kind of makes it around the corner and then can't find the exit and so for a painful few moments as the song whines to a close Lyles clearly lost in the arena and finally at one moment stops and just begins to look around and at this point people are like turning away in embarrassment starting to leave the announcers get on ago somebody help him somebody help Lyle it's a bad look God looks at Moses and says hey man I know you're going north go by leading himself and you know this doesn't make any sense actually this looks dumb yeah Pharaoh is gonna think we look lost cuz we are lost why does God do that why does God needlessly complicate your life never asks a question god I'm trying to get there you put that in my heart that's what I want why are you leading me here why does God detour us into the desert that's the question but here's the good news this text gives us three reasons why God did it to them and I think if we can understand the reasons why God did that to them it can give us clarity on why he complicates our lives so why does God detours people into the desert three reasons the first one you see in verse 17 of chapter 13 when Pharaoh let the people go God did not lead them by the way the land of the Philistines although it was near he didn't take them the short route the immediate route to their dreams why not it says for God said lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt one of the reasons God will not lead you the most direct route to your dreams is because frankly you're not ready you're not ready God knows that pathways filled with Philistines and the Philistines are warriors you guys have been slaves and even if you got some talent and some physical ability here's the reality you've had no training you got no coach no unit cohesion you're not gonna make it you'd be like Antonio Banderas at the beginning of Zorro you would have fought bravely and died quickly you don't have a chance God sees the obstacles on the short path and so in His mercy he towards them into the desert and he takes them into a difficult place to forge them into an army when they leave that desert they will be warriors they will march in step into that Promised Land and drive out their enemies God will make them into warriors but it's in the heat of the desert he forges their character and that's what God does to you God will detour your life into the desert because it's in the heat of the desert that he forges character I'm gonna make you into something stronger than you are now that's why he will detour your life why is he keeping that leadership position away from you why is he keeping that relationship away from you one reason maybe you're not ready you're not ready and so he has to forge you into something new it's interesting there's a guy Daniel Winkler one of the best knife makers in the world arguably and he's a fascinating guy got famous by making knives and tomahawks for the last Mohicans movie and now makes them for special operators special forces in the military and you can watch videos of him they're fantastic because his knives are so sharp that he will literally just cut through a two-inch rope without even holding it and they're not just razor-sharp they are so strong he was like stabbed through a car you will like drive it into a hood and just rip open a car look what kind of a knife is that sharp and that's strong these are crazy if I want a knife I'm going with a Winkler and if you were a piece of steel whose dream it was to be a good knife you'd but don't want to be a Winkler you really would and if you said man if I could just be that well there's a different YouTube video for you they would take you little piece of steel and they'd shove you into a furnace and heat it up a thousand degrees Celsius and leave you there and intense heat until every atom is on fire and when they finally release you from that heat then they begin to hammer you over and over again and Hammer hammer Hammer hammer you and then drill on you and grind you and then cool you off a little bit and then heat you up again and hammer you and it sounds like torture but in the right hands the heat and the hammer Forge you into something sharp and something strong do you see it and that's what God does to you he says I want to use you for great things I want to use you for important things I am going to make you ready but you are not now and some of you you're coming out of high school you were the best piece of steel in high school so much potential and gods like you're right and I am gonna use you I'll tell you why because you're not ready but in the right hands that heat and that hammer will Forge you into something sharp and something strong if you let him that's what God did to them he even told him in Deuteronomy who led you through that great and terrifying wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there is no water and he tells them later I did it to humble you test you to do good for you in the end I love that but if you had a friend that said this desert was hot you might be tempted to say I man get over it it's not that bad but when God Almighty calls it a terrible hill Turnus he's like you guys remember that place like Gabriel you that place was terrible holy me it was hot yeah and these guys we put the hammer on him but you know what we did it to forge you into something good and God does it all the time David when he's a teenager is anointed you're gonna be king then he becomes leader of the military he gets married to the daughter of the king he is living in the palace I'm a step away from the throne no you're not son you're about to lose it all I'm sending you into the wilderness for a decade why God cuz it's out there in the sand that I'm gonna harden you up and I'm gonna teach you how to lead not a whole kingdom but a band of about 20 men and I'm gonna Forge you into a unit and they will be your cabinet that can lead this mighty nation Moses God lets him know you're gonna be a liberator tries it in his 40s kills an Egyptian and buries him bad start God's like let's detour you in the wilderness for about 40 years let's get you real good at leading sheep through the desert so that you'll be ready to lead a million people through the desert Joseph gets a dream you're gonna be a leader in the government and then his brothers throw him in a well sell him and he finally gets out of being a slave by landing in prison not an impressive resume when you want to work in government so what have you been up to the last ten years funny story and yet it's there in that prison he learns how to be faithful when there's no applause and it's where he builds the relationships that are gonna lead him to the top of the kingdom and keep many alive God will lead you where he wants you often from A to B through R and you need to trust him for me when I left high school I was already leading in Christian ministries so I showed up at college and I thought they're just gonna throw me the ball son like put me in charge and I showed up and they're like yeah there's a seat for you in the back I'm like what I remember I was on this one trip and in the midway through this mission trip they appointed leaders among our ranks to lead the trip and they had this whole cabinet of leaders and then they had the official president of the whole group and as they were picking among us they picked all these other people to be all these other leadership positions and I hadn't been picked yet and in my heart I thought oh yeah cuz I'm gonna run this whole thing and I'll never forget they're like and now for the guy that runs it and I'm already like thanks guys no it's not it's the Lord not me and they were like Kevin I was like what Kevin what's Kevin got going for and I realize I got picked for nothing and then they're like we came up with an position called assistant to the leader and that's bad I'm like what I'm Kevin secretary no no no no no and yet I followed him around for one day and it became painfully apparent I had Talent but Kevin had character and I would have used that authority for me and Kevin used it to serve them and just by being in his wake for a day I realized he should be the right leader of this community and he should be the right leader of me and I learned a lot in that season by realizing the best way to be a leader is to step back god detoured me for my good because I wasn't ready Donna and I we found out later as we got engaged and married that we years before had sat in the same table at dinner and never met we found out I showed up at one of her concerts but missed her playing and physically brushed past each other in the room and then someone handed me her album and I threw it in the backseat of my car and didn't listen to it and years later we met and got married but as we talked about that we decided to us if we would have met earlier we would not have liked each other and I don't mean that like a cute story like it was just the right time I mean we would have been like you are the worst human like her arrogance would have graded me so much and my being right all the time would have been off-putting to her because of her immaturity and it just we would not have gotten along and so God mercifully was like nope nope nope said on opposite ends we did not talk at the same table and it wasn't until God shaved us down that we were ready for what we both logged for in our hearts sometimes God will not give you what you want right because you're not ready and it's in the heat of that desert that he forges your character it is in the loneliness of the wilderness he cultivates intimacy and he lets them know I'm gonna lead you out there to trust me so I can do good for you if you'll let me the second reason honestly doesn't have much to do with you at all it says in 14:1 then the Lord said to Moses tell the people of Israel turned and camp in front of pie higher off between MIG gone the see in front of bowels of fawn you Sean camp facing it by the sea for Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel there wandering in the land the wilderness shut them in verse 4 and I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he will pursue them alright stop there if you were a player and this was your coach's plan this would be a little off-putting all right team Circle up Moses Aaron buddy get in here here's to do I want you to head out there here's what I want you to do run around in circles and get real lost okay everybody in stance we have what the heck are they doing here's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna go over to the other team and tell them the whole plan and then I'm gonna say a bunch of stuff to him they get some real ticked off at you and they got superior firepower better technology superior to you in every way so here's what I want you to do I want you to lead your people right up into the edge of the sea with no equipment by which to cross it and then I'm gonna get this army real fired up this technologically advanced death machine I'm gonna send right at you on the beach okay sound good anybody good all right let's get team on three team that's the plan I'm sure you there young Oh what no no that's the worst plan I've ever heard why would you do that why not just get us out of here on the short path he tells you and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all of this house and the Egyptians shall know the Lord why does god detour you into the desert he detours you into the desert for your good to carve into your character and he does it for his glory among them God is like a good performer someone came up to us after the gathering and said hey I'm gonna walk on a tightrope out in the park you'd say good luck I've seen people try it knock yourself out but if he said hey I'm gonna walk in a tightrope across the Grand Canyon you'd say wow that's great man good luck but he's like I'm gonna walk across that pushing a wheelbarrow you go man that's crazy he said I'm gonna fill that wheelbarrow with senior citizens wow that is really something man hey I'm gonna do it backwards blindfolded with no net you go I gotta see it when is it on TV tell my friends this guy's nuts and either we need to pray cuz we're about to see a tragedy or we're about to see the coolest thing we've seen all year why are you saying that because the complexity amps up the glory some guy in the park you don't even notice him walking by but as you amp up the complexity and he pulls that off it amps up the glory amazing and so God tells them let me tell you what I'm doing I want to put you in the craziest position I can so that when I show up I get glory over Pharaoh and let me tell you why so that the Egyptians will know I'm the Lord one of the reasons God leads you in directions where he is not giving you what you want is not even about you it's about them it's so God can get glory in their lives the people around you and some of you may say well I don't care about that well let me give you a little theology what's the best thing in existence what's the best thing in all of existence we would say God he is the fountain of all good he is the fountain of love he's the fountain of peace is the fountain of joy every good thing you enjoy was his idea the best thing in existence is God so what's the best gift God could give you himself if he's giving out gifts and all he gives you as a car or a house not sufficient the best thing he could give you is to know him the fount from which all joy proceeds that I would get to know the maker of the Stars by name that's amazing so the best gift I could give you is to help you know that God it's the best thing I could give you so if God wants to use my life so that other people could know him that's the best possible story and so it's a gift from God then he says hey I'm a detour your plans but trust me I'm doing it so I get glory in them I'm not doing it to waste your time I'm gonna save you but I'm gonna lead you in a way that the Egyptians know that I'm the Lord that the people who are rebelling against me will see me and go whoa that's truly God and not just the Egyptians when the Israelites show up in the Promised Land and they meet Rahab as they're scouting out her village she says oh we've heard of you we've seen the mighty deeds of your God and I want to know a god like that so he told the Israelites I'm gonna complicate a season of your life so that when people around you see me show up in your life they will bless God they will praise God I want that kind of story to you that if God would say to me Ben I want to use your mouth to help people know me I would say yes I want to use hours of your day to study so that people would know me would you do it yes Ben I'm gonna hurt you on purpose and you're gonna end up in the hospital for a season and as people watch you trust me in the midst of physical therapy you're gonna help some people know me would you do it he didn't ask me if I wanted to do that but he did it to me anyway and I'm glad he did and God got glory in some dark places because he let his children into a hard place and he does that how much do you want to bless the world what kind of difference do you want to make God and His mercy will use you he'll put you in tough situations a tough financial block and we all get to watch do you trust him or not we're gonna get him to wait make you wait before you meet the one well I trust God or a fold like a lawn chair emotionally will I believe him hey I'm gonna trust God and I'm gonna keep working and I'm gonna keep serving even when there's no spotlight and no shine so that when he puts me in the spotlight I'm ready are you ready for that kind of life that he wants to get glory for you by putting you into difficult spaces that's another reason why he'll detour you into the desert to give glory to him through you so I remember for me this is a silly story of it but I had a dream to write a book there's a book I always wanted to write and finally I got to a point where someone invited me to write a book that's crazy and so I remember I went to my study and I blocked off a whole summer two months of I'm gonna write a book and I went out there and I tried very hard every day for a long time and could not write it I just couldn't do it it's weirdest thing I had a paragraph and it was terrible and at one point I was like well this is really embarrassing and this is really frustrating and God you know my heart why will this not come through I don't understand it and so finally to give myself a mental break I just stopped once I let me think about something else like what's going on in the world around me and as a person living in ministry among college students and college station 70,000 young people I thought man I've watched so many of them struggle with dating in the midst of this technological complexity and I was like what what if I was gonna write a book for them I'll tell you what I would do I would make chapter 1 this took you to that chapter 3 this chapter for that chapter oh no and in about five minutes I sketched out that chapter and summaries of every chapter of a book about dating and I remember I went oh god I don't want to be the dating guy I don't wanna get pigeonholed man have other things to say it's a dangerous world - it's a lot of emotional volatility in the dating world you give some good advice some people won't trust you they'll Jackie just give some bad advice they're gonna light you on fire it's a very dangerous place to dwell in I don't know if I want to do it God and yet I looked there and I'm like he won't let me do this he's offered a clear Lane here ok ok so I wrote a book on dating and it turned out being really fun it turned out being great I love getting to minister to our students with it and then as I was transitioning out of breakaway I felt like it was my swan song to the students like here's the best I have god bless you and I'm gonna go where God has me in life and I showed up here in Washington DC of all places was real surprised for me to move here but I've loved it here but I remember when I first showed up talking to somebody that worked in the Senate and I asked him hey how can I serve your people and I remember as I asked him that blanket question in the middle of the capital of the United States he went no no no how to date said the relationships are a mess even the married ones their marriages are a mess he said you think you'll be able to talk about dating that way what I can do about a month later I got invited to go speak at the Senate about relationships in relational health as the funny thing cuz growing up in Texas I had one of my favorite preachers he's always preaching book the Bible and he was like if I'm ever invited to preach at the Capitol this is my text it was usually something like in Revelation or the prophets if I'm ever standing there in the capital of the United States of America before the church had even launched in a suit I just bought and I was like if I ever get to the capital my text will be on dating because that's the felt need of the leaders of our day and I realized God had prepared me in a detour in the desert to be ready not for my benefit but for theirs and I realized God had been karate kidding me I just didn't even realize I've been picking up skills this whole time to help somebody else and then he chased him he might be doing that with you too don't lose sight of other people and become a navel-gazing self-immolated victim because the reality is God may deter you in the desert for purposes in your life or sometimes it's just for them as they watch you pray in the midst of a struggle and be faithful they'll have faith as they watch you trust it will birth trust in them God will sometimes d2r you for them don't miss out on that and the last thing he'll do is he'll grow your faith he will guide your steps to grow your faith he really will God will put you in situations where your faith wanes he will put you in situations where you freaked out did you see Israel do that God who had sent the plagues to break the might of mighty Pharaoh God who had led them to Passover that had kept him alive in the midst of a plague God who had led them out now as they reached the edge of the sea and didn't know how to cross it what did they do they just became emotional cripples and so then God part of that scene what happened when they watched God provide it says they feared him they believed in him and then they began to sing our gods through the horse and the rider into the sea our God is worthy of our trust and they started the next level of their journey from faith not fear God loves to do that he'll take you like you work out a muscle you take it to the edge of its ability you put it in crisis not to destroy it but to strengthen it and God will do that to you he will put you in positions that lead you to the edge of your faith why God why are you making me wait so long why are you making me tarry here why am I still in this space why are you making me endure this why does he put you there because as you have to trust him in that space of tension he is strengthening your faith that when you do see him part the Seas you have a song to sing that he will make you into a worshiper when you see him provide but it's that tension and release that produces praise it does for Donna and I when we had our little sparrow my daughter right when she was born there were health complications immediately about a month later they told us hey there's some things going on with her our doctor told us frankly we've never seen anything like it before and not a good way and through every step of the journey there were different things that might be and it just led Donna and I to pray what happens if she has this kind of struggle he's kind of having normalities this kind of struggle what are we gonna do and it just kick-started all this fear in us we never thought we would have to wrestle with some of that and I remember sitting in the car weeping about why is it so hard why is it so complicated and I just started thinking about how fragile life is how difficult life is and in that moment God unearthed to the sphere I didn't even know I had and he just made me deal with it and replace it with faith God whatever happens we trust you she's not our daughter she's yours she's she's a life you've entrusted us with Stuart if you let her live they're not all babies get to if we steward her life whatever comes we trust you she turned out coming out healthy and she's great but in that midst of the trial and the crisis in the fear God showed us the end of our faith he showed us where we were fearful and he made us stay in that tension until we hit our knees and we trust him and now as we watch him provide we have stronger faith than we did before les rattles us things that used to shake us don't any more moments where we used to question God we now have a song he grew our faith in the desert of testing it'll do it with you don't give up hope in the hour of difficulty don't give up hope in tribulation God may detour you in the desert because you're not ready for the blessing he has ahead of you he may detour you in the desert now I didn't about you but if a sake of his glory among them and he made detour you in the desert with every possibility and intention to set you free but he's got some growth in your faith to do you need to trust him before there's any answer to cling to you cling to him and then you watch him provide and lead you through because that's at the end of the day what he wants he wants to give you himself he wants you to trust him it's interesting in the New Testament this story really happened the Exodus but Paul will take it and say you know this is a picture of what God wants to do all of for all of us in Jesus that we are held captive not by a foreign power but in our own sin and God wants to send a Passover lamb to shed his blood so that we're set free he sent Jesus to lead us through that impossible course from certain death into life and that he'll even go on to say and when we're in the desert the flinty rock that Moses will strike to bring forth water is like Christ Jesus wants to provide for you in the desert places so you'll trust him when it is your time to march into battle in the land of promise God wants to keep providing for you in Jesus if you'll trust him someone encourages Church let's be a people who trust him as he builds our faith we'll be the kind of people who can march into the promise he has for us like Peter said a holy nation the chosen people called out of darkness into light that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who transferred us out of the dark into the light that's what he wants for DC he wants an army of people who say that hey God didn't work in me let me sing to you about what my god has done let me show you how he grew my faith he has forged me into someone who will sing the praises of him who led me out of dark into light come know this God and may there be a wake of blessing behind us as we trust him wherever he leads

Channel: Passion City Church DC

Views: 97,242

Rating: 4.954926 out of 5

Keywords: louie giglio, passion city church, passion church, passion city church worship, louie giglio sermons, passion city, giglio louie, louie giglio 2019, city church, passion, giglio, passion city church sermons, Ben Stuart, washington dc, Passion City Church, Complicated Life, Why God

Id: nLKFXqy7X3Y

Length: 33min 31sec (2011 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 06 2019