Grace For The Journey

  The Bible talks about Enoch’s life.  Enoch lived such a holy and righteous life that God Himself testified to it – not once, but twice in  sacred Scripture.  The Bible says in Genesis 5:22, 24, “After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years. . . . Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”  And in Hebrews 11:5 it says, “By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: He could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.”

God is so pleased when we walk by faith before Him that He is committed to testifying to it as a fact before men.  In essence, this is the testimony of God to a life well-lived before His face and in the presence of others.  Enoch walked faithfully with God every step of the way into heaven.

Can the same be said about us?  Is our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ a walk that is rooted in faith . . . or a walk that is rooted in sight?  What would be the testimony of God about our lives?

Look at it this way; never do we more closely bear the image of our God than when we are walking faithfully with Him.  And never is God more pleased with us than when we are bearing more of His image.  To be sure, when Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, the image of God in them was stained by sin and that stain marred its perfection. Today, you and I bear God’s image imperfectly in everything we do, but we do still bear God’s image.  And never do we bear it more than when we are walking faithfully with our God.

Think about that for a minute . . . What Does It Mean To Walk With God?  The Bible teaches that it means at least three things:

(1) Walking in Agreement With God

Amos the Prophet asked a very good question when he wrote, “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet” (Amos 3:3)?  The obvious answer is no, they cannot walk together if they’re not in agreement with one another. It might be a disagreement over religion, a relationship, or a philosophy of life, but unless they can walk together, meaning unless they can agree on things, they cannot walk together.  Shortly after the fall in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve “heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8), but instead of joining God, they hid from God because they had sinned.

Originally, God walked with them in fellowship and in relationship, but once they choose to disobey God, they could no longer walk in agreement with God because of their sin. Not long after this, mankind had been fruitful and multiplied over the face of the earth, but mankind in general had turned away from God.  The Bible says in Genesis 6:5, “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” … and in Genesis 6:11-12, “the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.  But there was one exception; the Bible says in Genesis 6:9, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.”  However, the Bible tells us in Genesis 6:17, God told Noah “I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.”  Noah and his family walked with God and so they survived the flood, but the rest of mankind was not in agreement, except for the fact “that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).

Enoch walked with God. This means, Enoch didn’t walk ahead of Him and he didn’t walk behind Him . . . but He walked with God.  What does it mean to walk with God?  I believe it means that

We don’t get ahead of what God has in store for us or His will for our lives

And we don’t take steps according to our own will

But get in step with God’s will.

It also means we obey the Lord.

We can’t hear what God may be telling us if we’re way out ahead of His will or we’re out of fellowship with Him.  We can’t walk with God if we are not doing what He commands and fall behind His prescribed will for our lives.  When this happens, we are going to stumble.  We know the Bible tells us that God opens doors that no one can open and closes doors that are not good for us to walk through, so if we are walking with God, we’ll go through the door with Him, and at the same time.  We will walk where He walks and go where He goes . . . but it also means, we don’t’ go where we know God doesn’t want us to go, so we can’t walk ahead of Him because He might not have the door open when we get there, or if we lag behind, the door may already be shut by the time we get there.

(2) Following After Jesus

Jesus invited those He called to “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).  Many said they were His disciples, but when Jesus’ teachings were difficult to accept, “many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him” (John 6:66).  Following Jesus is more than just walking in agreement with Him. For example, He says, “whoever does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38), and “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).

Following Jesus is a lifetime commitment and He requires 100% of us.  In one case someone said they’d follow Jesus, but, said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father” (Luke 9:59), and Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home” (Luke 9:61).  They said they believed in Jesus, but so do the demons, but they’re by no means saved (James 2:19).  You must follow Jesus and when you do, you can know that you’re walking with God.  What does following Jesus look like?

(3) Walking in Obedience

Following Jesus means to be walking along side of God by doing the things He commands (e.g. Matthew 25:34-40; 28:18-20).  When we walk with God we can more easily talk with God, and walking beside God helps to ensure we will be walking in the right direction, and at the right pace . . . not too fast or not too slow.

It’s better to be in step with God than out of step.

Besides, you can’t talk with someone behind you or talk with someone ahead of you, but if you’re walking with someone, you can communicate with that someone.  I can’t imagine taking a walk with my wife and being behind her or ahead of her.  When we walk together, it shows that we are in agreement with each other.  Perhaps that explains why “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away” (Genesis 5:24).

Walking with God means that we “do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4), and that frequently we must walk by “faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7b), so that’s why we’re warned, “be careful how you walk, not as unwise but as wise” (Ephesians 5:15).  Paul urges us all to “join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us” (Philippians 3:17), as it was “By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5). May the same thing be true for you too.

This is what it means to walk faithfully with your God.  We are in close proximity to Him; we are focused on Him; we are sharing a time of intimate fellowship with Him.  When we do that, we are affirming that God is the greatest good in our life, and we live at the level described by A. W. Tozer: We “live in a state of unbroken worship.”

Walking by faith is

Trusting God’s heart

Even when we cannot

Trace Him His hand

We walk in unwavering obedience to His Word and His will, regardless of the cost or circumstance.  This was the confession of the life lived by Enoch.  And Enoch was not alone in the biblical account.  It is said of Noah that he was “a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, he walked faithfully with God” (Genesis 6:9).

This is God’s goal for every one of His children

. . . And He is committed to testifying to it.

So be encouraged today by the example of Enoch!  Make it your heart’s deepest desire to live a life marked by walking with your God wherever He leads, knowing that it will ultimately be for His glory and your good!

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”