God’s Purpose in a Crooked Turn

Many Christians experience a turn in their lives they never see coming. Their lives were on a blessed course. Life itself seemed like a straight line forward with a promising outlook and every good thing ahead. Suddenly, their lot in life took a crooked turn.

Centuries ago, a church leader named Thomas Boston described this in his book, The Crook in the Lot. The “crook” he describes is the serious turn away from the straight “lot” of life. The book tackles a serious subject, posing the question, “What can make straight the crook in our lot?”

I pondered this question deeply after meeting people who experienced a major crook in their lot. Who, I wondered, could make straight the lot of a mother whose husband died and now had to raise five children on her own? Who could make straight the lot of the young girl bound to a wheelchair from birth because she inherited a specific gene from a parent?

You may object to this question, saying, “God would never bring a permanent crook into the straight path of his children. That has to be Satan’s work.” No, Jesus says that such crooks are a part of life: “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33, ESV).

Scripture makes clear that the most important matter in our lives is not the thing that takes a crooked turn. The greatest thing we’ll ever have is an intimate, personal, loving relationship with Jesus as part of his body. Nothing takes precedence over this relationship, for it encompasses everything about us. 

The question for each of us, including all who have experienced a crook, is, “How does this affect my relationship with Jesus?” For the Christ follower, the question is, “Do I desire whatever leads me on the course of loving, worshiping, serving and honoring him, even if it’s hard and painful?" 

If we have a crook, Jesus asks us to exchange it for him. “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Our crook may affect every aspect of our lives, every hour of our days, but it is not the end of our lives. Our beginning and our end are in him.