When Your Thoughts Lead You Astray: Redirecting Your Thoughts to God

“Mom, I think we are going in the opposite direction,” my spatially minded 9-year-old stated as we continued on the hiking trail that should’ve been done by now. What started out as a fun, supposedly short hike that I could do quickly with my daughters, one of whom is three, had extended into a 2-hour hike with no end in sight. We had begun to pass the same landmarks over and over again and began to feel like we were walking in circles, “wasn’t that the same bench?” Raindrops began to fall and I started to get more serious about getting back to the car. Little by little, with the help of a few kind souls, we eventually found our way back to the car. Oddly enough, we were always close to where we needed to go, but had progressively gone off course through several trail splits or forks in the road. We knew we were close because we could hear highway noise and see the building that we had parked near and actually were in a 2-mile radius but remained trapped down a confusing, forested trail and unable to make it back to our car at the trail head.

It got me thinking how sometimes we can get stuck in unproductive thought patterns as believers. As I sat down to write this article, I did a quick Google search on some basic terms. The term ruminate can mean to ponder or contemplate and is often used synonymously with meditate. But in modern psychology it can also mean to become trapped in unproductive, negative thought patterns. So, as an “overthinker” myself that often gets “trapped” in her own thoughts, I wanted to find out the difference. What pondering is productive or fruitful? What turns pondering into negative and unproductive? Which pathways lead to the Lord and which ones lead us further away. Learning to recognize unhealthy thought patterns and redirecting your thoughts to God can help you move from cycles of overthinking toward the peace and truth found in His Word.

^“ But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” Luke 2:19

The Greek word for pondering here is the verb symballo meaning to throw together, compare, or weigh things mentally. So, how does this compare with unhealthy rumination or negative overthinking? 

^“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8

Our thoughts are powerful, either for good or for bad. Thinking influences our beliefs and therefore our actions. Our thoughts can say or believe things like "It's up to me” and “about me.” Or maybe our thinking tells us “it’s too hard” to do it the Lord’s way or like my kids often say “I don’t want to.” Sometimes, our thinking can lead to proving ourselves through our works or proving ourselves through our striving but not resting in what Jesus’ finished work on the cross looks like. Scripture tells us that “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:6

So, do your thoughts lead to death or to life? Is your thinking inward or is it focused outward on what God is doing?

In the scripture above, Paul commends the Philippian Church to think about what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. So, is my thinking focused on myself (my weakness, what others think of me, what I think I deserve or want or only on what was done to me) or is it God focused (what the Lord says about me, what is God able to do in this situation)? Have you ever walked away from a social event, thinking “why did I say that?” or rethinking all the things you said, and your thoughts just continue to spiral or loop? 

Or maybe, there has been a significant negative event in your life that you never saw coming, but instead of letting it lead you back to the Lord and what His truth says about you, or the trailhead if you will, you get “stuck” in thoughts or lies as to what it must say about you or you look to the circumstances for the truth but not to what God is saying or how God is using the particular situation. If this is you, please know you’re not alone. It can be incredibly difficult to focus your thoughts on the Lord when everything seems to be screaming in your ear an opposite truth. But, as you invite the Holy Spirit into the situation and ask for God’s truth (the truth) to be revealed in the situation, God alone is able to work in what is considered impossible for man (Matthew 19:26). Sometimes, just like those kind souls on my walk, a trusted sister in Christ or trusted Christian counselor can also be incredibly helpful in these situations. 

The good news is the Bible is full of what healthy reflection looks like. It is interesting to note that according to Merriam Webster, the word ruminate comes from the Latin word ruminari, which means "to chew the cud", and it is directly connected to ruminant animals (like cows, sheep, and goats) that regurgitate and re-chew their food. So, are we recycling unhealthy thoughts or, instead, are we regularly “chewing” or meditating on the word of God?

"All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart." Proverbs 21:2

"I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds." Psalm 77:12

The bible has a lot to say about this, but one thing I would like to focus on in this brief blog post is discerning or weighing our thoughts in terms of how they bring us closer or further away from the Lord because the truth is that God is always near. 

"And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:20

David famously states in Psalm 139:11 that the Lord is near even if he goes down to the darkness, he cannot flee from the Father’s presence because “darkness is as light to you.” Jesus is known as Emannuel as in “God with us.” Praise God! The reality when I was on our hike was that I was never far from where I needed to be, but it felt like I was trapped and unable to get out. My feelings told me I was lost, but I had actually walked off the trail I needed to be on. I was actually closer to where I needed to be than I thought. But thankfully as I heard it said recently, my feelings didn’t dictate the faithfulness of God (2 Tim 2:13).

So, how about you? How can you tell when your thoughts are leading you down the wrong path? How can you find your way back to the lover of your soul (Jeremiah 31:3). The good news is the Lord is never far.

Father God, thank you for your word and your spirit which is able to discern our hearts and lead us back to you when we feel far. Please open our eyes to what you say about us.