On July 21st, I will have had my learner’s permit for one year. As a new driver, I often end up taking the wrong turn along the road. Even on roads I’ve driven many times before, sometimes I will still make a mistake. Wrong turns often aren’t fun or planned, but they can always be fixed so you can get back on the right track.
God has given commands for us to follow a “path” to go down. Psalm 16:11 says, “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” The Bible is filled with directions, things we need to do as servants of God. As Christians, we choose to walk down this path, but sometimes we can stray from this path and begin to go our own way.
A good example of this is Jonah. Jonah was a man who went against God because of his own reservations and ends up following his own path. Because of Jonah’s arrogance, he is cast into the ocean and swallowed by a large fish. When Jonah chose to take a wrong turn, the consequences were not far behind. One of the most important things about Jonah’s story is when he decides to follow God’s commandment. “So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them” (Jonah 3:3-5).
Jonah had directly disobeyed God, and yet when he changed direction, many were saved because of his actions. Jonah is not the only example of this happening in the Bible. Noah, Moses, David, and many other figures we often consider role models all took a wrong turn along their path with God. Nevertheless, they were all able to get back on the right path and enact a large amount of good for God’s people in the long run. Deuteronomy 4:29 says, “But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find Him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.” These people sought the Lord and were reunited with Him, changing their ways no matter how largely they had messed up.
If you’ve ever taken a wrong turn when driving, where did you end up? Were you stuck on that road forever? Most likely, you found a place to turn around and continued on to your destination. Sometimes in our Christian walk, it seems like there’s a point of no return when we veer too far off the path, but with God’s grace, there is always a way back from wherever you’ve been. If you’ve found yourself today on the wrong path, one headed away from God and his people, find a place to turn around, because there’s always a way to get back to him.
Jackson Davidson