#385: Is The Path You Are On The Right One?

Is the path you are on the right one or are you just kidding yourself?

At a point fairly early on in my career, I felt like I wasn’t moving up the ladder as fast as I thought I deserved. So, when a high-ranking executive wooed me with sweet talk and a promotion opportunity, I jumped at the chance.

In my gut, I was a bit uneasy with the promises, but I wanted that promotion, so I convinced myself it was a good move. For the first few months, it did seem like my initial concerns were unfounded.

Then I discovered first-hand why there had been turnover in this region in the past. I should have listened to my gut because the path I was on was certainly not the right one for me!

Years later and presumably wiser, I made the same mistake. I was offered a leadership position in a local ministry. Wise people came alongside me and cautioned me about accepting this offer. Some people outright said I should not even consider the offer. Deep down, I had my doubts as well, but I pridefully accepted the offer thinking this was what God wanted me to do, and I would make it work!

It took about a year for me to realize this was not the path God had for me, after all.

As it turns out in at least these two occasions, I talked myself into taking a path that was not the right one. In my case, pride caused me to convince myself that against all odds, I could make it work. In both cases, it seemed for a while that my decision was a good one. Only after some time passed did it become painfully clear what poor decisions I had made.

It turns out I’m not alone in this inability to perceive the right path. There are a lot of examples in the Bible of individuals as well as whole nations who chose the wrong path.

Jonah’s Wrong Path

We all know the story of Jonah. Jonah was called by God to preach a message of repentance to the people of Nineveh. Jonah didn’t like the Ninevites. He wanted God to wipe out the Ninevites, not offer them a chance to repent and obtain forgiveness.

So, instead of obeying God and heading to Nineveh, Jonah took off in the opposite direction. He went to the seaport of Joppa and found a ship heading for Tarshish some 2,500 miles in the opposite direction.

Jonah probably convinced himself that he was on the right path. He made it to Joppa without any problems. He found a ship leaving right away, and he had enough money to pay for his ticket!

Jonah jumped on board and sailed away to Tarshish. His plan to go to Tarshish instead of following God’s instructions to go to Nineveh seemed to be working out.

Until nightfall, that is, when a storm came up and threatened to capsize the ship. That’s when Jonah finally realized that by ignoring God, he was on the wrong path. Even then, it took Jonah three days in the belly of the fish before he finally admitted to God that he had chosen the wrong path!

Israel’s Wrong Path

Toward the end of his life, Moses gathered the people together and appointed Joshua as their leader. At the same time, the people of Israel swore they would follow God and His commandments.

The people did pretty well while Joshua was alive, but as soon as Joshua died, the people fell away from their commitment to follow God. After Joshua’s generation died, another generation grew up who didn’t know God. The people started worshipping foreign gods. They adopted the evil practices of the people living near them.

At first, they must have felt like they were on the right path. It didn’t seem to matter that they had rejected God and started worshipping foreign gods. Things seemed to be going alright for the people of Israel.

Suddenly God tired of waiting for them to return to Him. He allowed raiders to plunder the people of Israel. They started losing battles they should have won.

The people of Israel were in great distress, and they finally realized by rejecting God, they had chosen the wrong path!

We Can All Choose the Wrong Path

Individuals can choose the wrong path. I’ve done it. You’ve probably done it. We have a tendency to talk ourselves into the path we are on. We rationalize what we are doing, even when we sense we are headed in the wrong direction.

The same is true of groups of people. It may be a congregation of people in a church that convinces themselves they are on the right path. Or it might be a whole segment of society that convinces themselves they are on the right path.

As we learned from the examples of Jonah and the people of Israel, we humans have a remarkable ability to convince ourselves that we are on the right path—right up until God does something that gets our attention.

For Jonah, that realization came when he got thrown overboard and swallowed by the fish. For the people of Israel, it was when God’s blessings stopped, and their enemies came against them.

If experience has taught me anything, it is far better to spend time in prayer seeking God’s path for my life than to rely on my own feelings. Relying on God for direction and following His direction is the best way to make sure you are on the right path. It also lessens the chance you’ll end up in the belly of a fish for a few days!

More Articles

I have written several articles on obedience to God. You can find them by typing “obedience to God” in the search bar. Meanwhile, here are four of my most recent favorites.

• #365: Do You Lead Like an Owner or A Steward?
• #345: Disobedience to God Always Leads to Lost Opportunities
• #299: 3 Take-Aways From the Life of a Harlot
• #277: A Compass Can Only Point You in the Right Direction…

Join the Conversation

As always, questions and comments are welcome. Have you ever taken the wrong path in life? What happened to get you on the right path?

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Category: Personal Development | Obedience to God