Talk

Why God Complicates Your Life

Ben Stuart

August 4, 2019

Have you ever wondered why your life doesn’t look the way you thought it would? Have you ever felt like you’re like the Israelites, wandering around in the desert with no apparent path to a destination? This week, Ben Stuart gives us three reasons why God doesn’t always give us what we want as we look in Exodus at the journey of the Israelites through the desert.

Scripture References

17When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”

18So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.

15He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock.

1Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the

Lord

promised on oath to your ancestors.

1Then the

Lord

said to Moses,

2“Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon.

3Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’

4And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the

Lord

.” So the Israelites did this.

Ben Stuart

Ben Stuart is the pastor of Passion City Church D.C. Prior to joining Passion City Church, Ben served as the executive director of Breakaway Ministries on the campus of Texas A&M. He also earned a master’s degree in historical theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Donna, live to inspire and equip people to walk with God for a lifetime.