You Are Here

“The Lord will guide you continually, …”
- Isaiah 58:11

Spiritually, an inability to accurately identify your position (and more importantly how you arrived at it) can undermine your growth. Everyone has made decisions which led to our current position. Understanding where we are enables us to chart a new path forward.

Reading maps is becoming a lost art. I love maps. In fact, my journals are filled with several maps I’ve drawn from towns and villages in which I worked overseas. I see things in my head as a map. GPS has changed all that for most people. We type in an address and follow the line never seeing more than a couple miles in front of us.

I’m always humored by maps at attractions like parks. They have all the normal indicators you would find on a map: North, structures, landmarks, legend and map scale. However, the most prominent feature on those maps—usually in red—is the marker “You Are Here.” It denotes the physical location of your current position.

In orienteering (using only a map and compass) there are three primary things you have to know: 1) your current location, 2) your destination, and 3) how to identify landmarks to guide your progress; i.e. reading a map. Normally, you have to identify landmarks to figure out where you are on the map at the start. Attractions save you this trouble by placing the largest identifier on the map there for you with “You Are Here.”

Sometimes, we want the same identifier in our spiritual life. Just tell me where I am. Yet, it is crucial to be able to identify the markers along the way that got you to this point. It is vital to align those with the map—God’s Word—and calibrate them with the compass—Christ—to gain an understanding of our current position. Otherwise we are just as likely to make the same decisions, turns, and take the same paths that led us to this point.

Praise God, as Isaiah writes, “The Lord will guide you continually,…”. However, to be guided we must refer to the map. We must utilize the compass. A major part of the effort is to identify where we are on the map. What was the path we took to get here? But where you are is not the most important thing on the map. It is all about where are you going.

You can’t go down the same old path to get to a new place. You can’t keep making the same decisions and expect a different outcome. You can’t remain who you are and become you desire to be. You have to identify where you are and leave those things behind to experience the new and glorious.

If we took a moment to consider, often we would find we are where we are because we have expected Christ to join us, rather than us joining Him. His Word is our map. He is our compass. As Colossians 2:6 encourages us, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.”

How did we receive him? We had nothing to offer. We could not bring anything to the table. We had to put all that we are into His hands. And He worked in and through us for our salvation. We are to walk the same. Not according to our own plans, desires, passions or opportunities. We are to put each step into His hands. We are to consistently refer to the true map and compass, and allow Him to work through our lives.

It is of little import where you are on the map beyond having a starting point. Nor does it really matter what route you take. What does matter is that you read the map, trust the compass and follow the route they chart. That route is for your good. It is for your benefit.

If you desire to be all God created you to be, you cannot remain who you are today. Perhaps it is time to pull out the Map, consult the Compass and chart a new direction. And know if you trust Him, “The Lord will guide you continually,…”

© 2026 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.