Heading in the Wrong Direction

But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. Jonah 1:3 (New American Standard Bible)

Jonah’s steps in the wrong direction were many. He purposefully headed away from God, went down to Joppa, found a ship, paid the fare, and boarded the ship to get to Tarshish. The verse begins and ends with the same phrase, “from the presence of the LORD.” At any point along the way, Jonah could have assessed what he was doing, changed his course of action, and headed in the right direction. If you are familiar with this Bible story you know all that transpired before the change came. He made matters worse with each choice he made. All of it could have been avoided had Jonah at any time headed toward God instead of away from Him.

Have you ever seen yourself in the person of Jonah? I certainly have! I find myself making wrong decisions and then proceed to make wrong choices on top of those decisions. Rather than stop at the first wrong step, I (like Jonah) just keep taking the wrong steps….making matters worse. I was in the midst of wrong choices this past weekend and even had my mind made up to make more wrong choices. What stopped me? I knew I would only make matters worse and that would lead to painful consequences. It wouldn’t be a large fish as in Jonah’s case, but it would be something that could easily swallow me up until I was ready to head in the right direction. So I stopped my planning. I stopped my running. I changed my heart and my mind. In essence, I rose to flee but decided to return.

In moments like this I feel like such a boomerang Christian….going the wrong direction and then turning around and heading back. Fortunately for me God is consistent in His love, forgiveness, grace, and mercy. The lessons He is teaching me are difficult and uncomfortable at present. I don’t like the person I continue to be most of the time. I don’t like what others know about me. I don’t like the mistakes I keep making and the slip-ups I keep having. I do, however, take comfort in the fact that God loves me too much to allow me to stay this way. He will go to any length to reach, touch, and change my heart. He will stop at nothing to woo and win me to Himself. He will never give up on me even when I have given Him more than enough reasons to do so.

Father, forgive me for my thoughts and actions. I want to stop running and adding to the wrong choices I have already made. With You all things are possible and I rest in that truth. Amen.

Oh How He Loves Us - Kim Walker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF9uG-zR2Kw&feature=related

I welcome your questions and comments to any devotional thoughts. I am honored and delighted to share my journey with you and privileged to hear of yours.