A woman was running in a half-marathon in Ontario, Canada. It was a warm-up for the Detroit Marathon, the race in which she hoped to qualify for the renowned Boston Marathon. Somehow she missed the turn for the half-marathon and instead ran twenty-six miles—the complete marathon! Not only did she complete it, she posted the fastest time for a female runner and automatically qualified to run the Boston Marathon.
The woman’s wrong turn was unintentional, but it worked out well. The prophet Jonah, however, intentionally made a wrong turn. After God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and announce His judgment, “Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord” (Jonah 1:1-3). Amazingly, God still brought good out of His prophet’s defiance. I imagine that most of us have dared to defy Him and lived to tell the tale. This doesn’t speak of any greatness on our part, but rather of His mercy.
Jonah hoped he could “escape from the Lord” (Jonah 1:3). He was so convinced of his likely success that he slept peacefully below deck until some frightened sailors woke him. The prophet couldn’t run from God as He sent a violent storm to get the wandering prophet’s attention (Jonah 1:4-6). When the sailors threw Jonah overboard, the sea became calm and the men stood in awe of God and His power. After three days and nights in the belly of a huge fish, Jonah finally “cried out to the Lord in [his] great trouble and [the Lord] answered [him].” He “called to [Him] from the land of the dead and [the] Lord heard [him]!” (Jonah 2:2).
God hears us when we turn to Him from our wanderings. If we’ve chosen a wrong turn, let’s confess it and find forgiveness in Him today! (1 John 1:9).
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Genesis 25:19-34
More:
Read Isaiah 30:20-21 and be encouraged by a God who is with you to discipline and lead you away from wrong turns.
Next:
How have you been running in the opposite direction of something God has called you to do? What path of grace and restoration has He revealed to you?
Gary Shultz on January 16, 2017 at 5:42 am
Hi Ruth: Running in real life is just a concept to me. But running in the spirit is an ever real threat to spiritual growth. This so wonderfully links with the ODB story today. If you’re running, like Jonah, it shows a complete disregard of who God really is. You have replaced faith with fear and unnecessary worry. If we but see God we must be convinced of His power, wisdom, and capability to equip and strengthen us for anything He has ask us to do. If doubt, worry, fear and confusion have cornered me, it’s because I have stepped away from God. Without Him I can do nothing of value towards His work. Maybe running is good, but we just need to run in the right direction. Into the arms of a loving God who has been waiting for us to come. And, it would be wise not to wait too long lest God may have to send a storm to bring us to the end of ourselves and we finally get washed back to Him. Thanks Ruth
Ruth O'Reilly-Smith on January 16, 2017 at 7:08 am
Hi Gary. In our human nature we often feel the urge to make things right before we come to God. Hopefully it doesn’t take too many wrong turns (whether intentional or unintentional) for us to finally realise that He wants us to come to Him as we are – faults n all.
hsnpoor on January 16, 2017 at 10:32 am
Amen! So true. What caught my attention was that Jonah stayed in the belly of that fish for 3-days before he called out to the Lord for help! Why do we do that? I suspect the end of the thread that answers that question goes right back to what precipitated the original sin in the garden….pride. Thank God for his grace in dealing with our pride. Oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry EVERYTHING to God in prayer.
Ruth O'Reilly-Smith on January 17, 2017 at 1:29 am
True hsnpoor. How foolish we are at times. Like the prodigal son, waiting until he was living on scraps of food given to the pigs before he humbled himself and went back to his father. May we recognise when our hearts are wandering and turn quickly back to our Heavenly Father.
godlove on January 16, 2017 at 6:26 am
Thank you very much, Ruth, for these words of comfort for all like me who have strayed away from His instructions, whether intentionally or not. It is truly comforting to know that we have a loving and merciful God and Father, who waits and wants us to return to Him when we take a wrong turn. It might sound surprising that Jonah actually thought he could get away with defying God’s instructions just because his case looks very blatant, but don’t we usually do exactly the same thing each time we go against His instructions! I am particularly encouraged by the words of Isaiah 30:21; may we listen to His voice today and always follow His guidance. Blessed week to everybody.
Ruth O'Reilly-Smith on January 16, 2017 at 7:17 am
Hi godlove. Jonah’s deep-seated pride deceived him into thinking he was better than the people of Nineveh. We may be quick to judge Jonah (as your suggest), but if we carefully examine our own motivations we may notice the same heartbreaking attitude. May we rather humble ourselves and be open to confidently speaking of the faithfulness of our gracious and merciful Heavenly Father – to all people everywhere.
suny219 on January 16, 2017 at 8:58 am
If I had a map of my life’s path it would look like one of those old Family Circus cartoons. So many distractions and crossbacks instead of a straight line on the road to God. Yet the Lord has always led me back to his path and used my meanderings as a lesson. I am so blessed. Thank you Ruth for reminding me of just how the Lord lights my path daily.
gagirllive on January 16, 2017 at 9:15 am
Lol…I can identify, suny219, about the Family Circus cartoons. Other than Christ, I don’t think there’s anyone who’s ever lived that has a straight line on their journey. Broken roads and detours are what lead us to God. Reminds me of Selah’s song, “God Bless the Broken Road”. Do you know it?
suny219 on January 16, 2017 at 8:16 pm
Know this song and love it.
Ruth O'Reilly-Smith on January 17, 2017 at 1:33 am
I regularly feel like the Israelites wandering around in the desert – going round and round the same wrong mountain. As God’s Word is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path, I pray that we would keep in step with Him (through the power of the Holy Spirit) today, and every day.
gagirllive on January 16, 2017 at 9:04 am
Hi, Ruth. Someone once told me that whenever you get lost while driving, make right turns because statistics say they are most likely to get you back on the right road. Since I have GPS, I can’t say that I’ve been able to prove that or not, but I am curious about it and will have to test it out one day. Spiritually speaking, however, turning back to God and following His ways is always the right course of action. When we resist this, we usually end up taking some pretty rough detours, which God uses anyway to teach us a thing or two. Often it is in our defiance—and the school of hard-knocks—that it becomes clear to us that His way is better than ours. Ideally, a heart change is what turns us around to obedience, but do you find that to be the case with Jonah? It seems to me that he was still reluctant to obey. Though he did, his heart attitude wasn’t right. He continued in his pride and prejudice toward the people of Nineveh. In essence, I hear him saying, “I’m going to do what You say LORD, but I don’t like it.” Interestingly, the people of Nineveh responded immediately with repentance, while Jonah sulked and complained. The hero of the story, as is always the case, is our great, gracious and merciful God who calls to the lost and the defiant, saying “Turn here…come home.” Even when I stray off the path, those are the words I long to hear. For the child of God, disobedience is life without navigation, and I find that very frightening. I’m so grateful that He still does search and rescue missions, aren’t you? Thanks for blessing us today, Ruth. Grace and peace to all.
hsnpoor on January 16, 2017 at 10:37 am
Yes, GG, I, for one, am eternally grateful that God is still in the search & rescue business. His loving kindness to us is nothing short of amazing!
Ruth O'Reilly-Smith on January 17, 2017 at 1:52 am
My husband used to say I should keep driving until I could see a sign for the motorway. I love that I can connect to a GPS these days – far more reliable. The Holy Spirit is our wonderful and reliable GPS for everyday life. I agree with you about Jonah’so attitude though – defiant to the end. We can be so stubborn in our sin. As we experience God’s amazing grace, may we turn from our stubborn ways and humbly surrender to His will – the best for our lives.
Dong on January 16, 2017 at 9:19 am
Hi Ruth, thank you for this message. Jonah’s heart for the Lord once again strikes me. He repented in the belly of the fish, and he knew that he had to repent. Because he eventually realized that what he did was futile and foolish; God is that hurricane that none could escape from Him. We all have selfish desires in our hearts, like Jonah’s unwillingness of going to Nineveh. But God saves us, and He lets us know if we are heading in the wrong direction. The mercy after our repentance shall draw us to God ever closer and acknowledge Him ever more.
Ruth O'Reilly-Smith on January 17, 2017 at 1:56 am
Hi there Dong. As we live through and experience our Heavenly Father’s great grace and mercy towards us, may we grow more like Him – becoming Christlike through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Tom Felten on January 16, 2017 at 9:55 am
Ruth, I’m reminded of how many times God has taken my bad turns and shown incredible mercy to me. It’s so much better, however, when we align ourselves with Him and His ways in the first place and avoid the sting and pain than sin brings. God’s grace is amazing, but so is the wisdom He’s revealed to us in the Scriptures. May we take it to heart today and avoid wrong turns that will ultimately hurt others and ourselves.
Ruth O'Reilly-Smith on January 17, 2017 at 1:58 am
Absolutely Tom – praying for God’s wisdom and discernment in our lives today. May we courageously choose to follow after Him in all things and at all times.
Ruth O'Reilly-Smith on January 17, 2017 at 1:20 am
Im so grateful that God brings something good out of everything – even our wrong turns. Ecclesiastes 3:11 God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.
lha2017 on January 17, 2017 at 3:51 am
“How have you been running in the opposite direction of something God has called you to do? What path of grace and restoration has He revealed to you?”
I honestly don’t know how to answer this. I’m getting “back on the horse”, so to speak, so we’ll see how it goes.
Ruth O'Reilly-Smith on January 17, 2017 at 7:03 am
Great seeing you here lha2017. I’ve been reminded again today that when we make a mistake, rather than hide our mistakes and wrong choices from God and run away from the people who care about us, let us learn from those mistakes and grow through them. I’m praying you will know the very real presence of God with you as you’ve made the decision to ‘get back on the horse’ again.
Ruth O'Reilly-Smith on January 17, 2017 at 7:07 am
I woke up this morning thinking of our spiritual growth and maturity in Christ and I thought I’d share this with you. Ephesians 4:11-16 “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.