A man's steps are directed by the Lord.  How then can anyone understand his own way? (Proverbs 20:24).

The life of faith is not like a walk to the neighborhood grocery store.  It's not like we can just write up our little list, plot out our course, gather all the items we need, and then amble homewards.  No, the life of faith is more like the journey of an Inuit hunter, traveling across the arctic tundra guided by sporadically-placed inukshuks:  hand-crafted rock figures, pointing the way to our destination.  When we walk by faith, trying to keep in step with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the only way that we're able to keep moving forward is through the guidance provided by the inukshuks in life -- those moments of spiritual clarity, scattered every so often, that remind us of our direction and goal.

We all have those moments in our lives, if we look hard enough.  They don't come along very often on the generally flat, unmarked spiritual landscape of our lives.  But when we find one, we can immediately observe evidence of obvious design and purpose, comforting and reassuring reminders that we are not the only ones to have walked a particular path.  With these spiritual inukshuks, just like Inuit inukshuks, there is a great variety of design -- but their significance is unmistakable.  They're placed just every so often, barely enough to remind us that we are indeed on a designated trail.

And if we learn to look for the inukshuks that God has put in our lives, we can more effectively live with radical faith and trust in the directions that God takes us.  It's really not a formula or a mathematical equation; it’s a spiritual thing.  The Holy Spirit is the ultimate trump card.  His leadership is most important!  But with that said... there do seem to be a handful of principles that we can observe in the Bible and from real-world experience for identifying the spiritual inukshuks around us and making Spirit-filled decisions.  In particular, I believe there are five main checkpoints that we can use to help determine the inukshuks in our lives and find the path being marked out by these inukshuks: (1) God's Word, the Bible, (2) Prayer, (3) Godly Counsel from Other People, (4) Circumstances, and (5) the Test of Time.

With actual inukshuks in the Canadian wilderness, Inuit hunters don’t just look at them and see a random pile of stones. They know how to study the rock formation like a map and read it for specific clues as to which direction they must go. In the same way, we can study the Bible to give us direction (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Psalm 119:97-99, 138, and John 14:21). Secondly, real inukshuks are discovered through searching for them and consistently scanning one’s eyes across the flat, arctic horizon in hopes of spotting the next marker on the trail home. An Inuit hunter knows that he won’t see anything if he’s not looking for it. In the same way, prayer gives us spiritual eyes to see what’s in front of us (see Proverbs 2:3-6, Colossians 1:9-10, and James 1:5). Thirdly, it's important to remember that an inukshuk is not just an arbitrary pile of stones on the tundra. There may be quite a bit of variety in the way one inukshuk might look from the next, but there is an element of consistency as well -- stemming from the fact that they are a part of the Inuit culture, and people who are from that culture know what separates an inukshuk from just a bunch of rocks. In the same way, our involvement in Christian community helps us in determining the direction God wants to take our lives (see Proverbs 12:15 and Proverbs 11:14). Fourthly, it's significant to note that for the Inuit people, an inukshuk’s environment, placement, and circumstances are important in determining the inukshuk’s meaning and significance. A pile of rocks in the middle of the wilderness means a whole lot more than a pile of rocks in the village. Likewise, God can use circumstances in our lives to help prevent us from going wrong directions and steer us in the right direction for the future (see Acts 16:6-7 and Matthew 10:11-14). And finally, it's important to realize that one inukshuk is not enough to guide an Inuit hunter on the entire path that he needs to follow. Rather, it is the collective alignment of several inukshuks that mark the path, and the only way to know that you’re truly on the right path is to be patient and make sure that they consistently line up, pointing in the same direction. I feel it’s the same way with spiritual inukshuks (see Psalm 27:13-14, Isaiah 30:18, and Proverbs 14:29).

But again, these are just some basic principles.  How can anyone understand his own way, really?  A man's steps are directed by the Lord.