Life can feel frustrating when progress seems interrupted. You finally feel like you’re gaining momentum, moving ahead, making progress—and then something happens. A setback. A disappointment. A closed door.
It feels like two steps forward and one step back.
The people of Judah knew that feeling.
Israel had entered the Promised Land because God intended to remove evil from Canaan and establish a people who would live faithfully before Him. Yet over time, Israel became what they had once replaced. Their kings drifted from God. Their worship became compromised. Leaders like Manasseh rebuilt pagan altars and embraced practices opposed to God.
Eventually judgment came.
Jerusalem fell. Babylon invaded. The people were taken into exile.
From a human perspective, it looked like failure.
But God had another perspective.
Through Jeremiah, God said:
“I appoint you to uproot and tear down… to build and plant.”
Notice the order.
Before rebuilding comes uprooting.
Before planting comes tearing down.
Sometimes what feels like loss is actually preparation.
Jeremiah even delivered a message that seemed backward:
Stay and fight—and you die.
Surrender—and you live.
That made no sense.
Except God was showing them something deeper: they needed to stop clinging to what was familiar and trust Him through the uncomfortable step backward.
Because surrender wasn’t defeat.
It was redirection.
Kurt Vonnegut once wrote:
“A step backward after making a wrong turn is a step in the right direction.”
That sounds different than “two steps forward, one step back.”
A backward step can become holy ground if it reorients us toward God.
Ezekiel carried this same message.
God sent him to stubborn people who didn’t want to listen. Yet in the middle of exile, Ezekiel preached restoration:
“I will gather you… and bring you back.”
Then God gave Ezekiel a picture.
A valley full of dry bones.
No one looks at dry bones and says, “There’s life there.”
Except God.
The bones rattled.
They came together.
Sinews formed.
Flesh covered them.
Life returned.
God was saying:
“What looks dead to you is not dead to Me.”
Many of us stand in valleys of dry bones.
Broken dreams.
Failed plans.
Unexpected detours.
Relationships that hurt.
Ministry disappointments.
Moments where we wonder if we’ve gone the wrong direction.
Yet God still specializes in resurrection.
Sometimes He allows a step backward so He can reposition us for something ahead.
Even John Wesley experienced this.
After returning from a failed mission in Georgia, discouraged and questioning everything, he famously wrote:
“I went to America to convert others. Who will convert me?”
But on May 24, 1738, at Aldersgate Street, Wesley encountered the Holy Spirit in a way that changed his life forever.
His failure became preparation.
His setback became awakening.
His backward step became revival.
Maybe today you’re experiencing one too.
Maybe what feels like delay is actually direction.
Maybe what feels like loss is actually preparation.
Maybe what feels like retreat is God repositioning you.
Because sometimes a step backward after making a wrong turn becomes a step in exactly the right direction.
Thanks be to God.
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Sermon video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JacXIYrus9g [Message begins at 47:50
[Blog post created by Sunday Message Repurposing Assistant from original sermon content preached by Rev. Kent F. Jackson on May 24, 2026.]
Sermon Series NOTE: The Story by Max Lucado ch. 17 “The Kingdom’s Fall
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