Rerouting: Back on Track with God

Rerouting: Back on Track with God

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." ~Proverbs 3:5-6

I like to think I'm pretty good with directions, but sometimes I need to use the map on my phone. Typically it does a good job of getting me to my destination on time, although once in a while it decides to tell me my next turn is RIGHT NOW and by that point it's too late. I've passed it.

The destination hadn't changed. My phone's lackadaisical approach to giving me directions hadn't cancelled the trip. I just added a few miles.

We tend to treat our spiritual wrong turns differently. The moment we drift — whether from Scripture, from prayer, from the commitments we made back in January — we assume we've hit the point of no return—it's too late to reroute. We end up spending more time feeling bad about missing the exit than it would have taken to simply take the next one.

But Proverbs 3:5-6 isn't just about what happens when we're on course. "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." All your ways includes the detours. It includes the miles you drove in the wrong direction before you noticed. He doesn't require that you find your own way back to the original route; the question is whether you are acknowledging Him once you realize you're lost.

Isaiah put it plainly: "Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it,' when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left" (Isaiah 30:21). That voice behind you isn't a rebuke. It's a redirect. And it comes specifically in the moments when we've strayed.

Paul understood this too. In Philippians 3:13-14, he writes that he's "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead." He's not minimizing what's behind him — he had real things to forget. But he refuses to let the rearview mirror become more important than the road ahead. The goal is still the goal.

Getting Back on Track with God Starts with the Next Step

If you've been feeling stuck somewhere between where you meant to be spiritually and where you actually are, this is a devotional for getting back on track with God — and it's simpler than you might think. He doesn't require a perfect re-entry. He just requires that you acknowledge Him in the next step. Not every missed step. The next one.

The route has been recalculated. The destination hasn't changed.

Daily Practice: Identify one area where you've drifted from what you intended spiritually this year — a prayer habit, a relationship, a quiet commitment you made. Don't try to fix everything at once. Acknowledge it before God, then take two minutes to reroute back to your goal.