The Bible has a lot to say about walking. It tells us to walk in faith, to walk together, and to walk in love. The whole Biblical notion of a person’s walk is that it’s indicative of how they live and conduct themselves. To paraphrase James Allen, “As a man walketh (not thinketh), so is he.” That’s what makes this brief snippet about Enoch so interesting. “When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” (Genesis 5:21-24, NIV)
Short Eulogies
Genesis 5 is a summary of the lives of those who lived from Adam to Noah. Almost every one ends with an obituary, saying they lived so many years, had such-and-such offspring, and ends with the statement, “then he died.” After all, that’s pretty much how obituaries go for everyone, right?
You could say that all of us walk uncertainly through a changing world, headed towards a certain end. Not so with Enoch. He is mentioned in the Bible several times. The Genesis account says that Enoch “walked faithfully with God, then he was no more, because God took him away.” Jude 14 says that Enoch was the seventh in line from Adam (apparently counting Adam), descending from Seth.
Enoch was apparently a noteworthy individual for several reasons. There is an Apocryphal book of Enoch attributed to him. He is commended for walking faithfully with God in Hebrews 11:5 which 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.” So why is Enoch special? What the Bible says about him is that “he walked faithfully with God.” Why is that such a big deal?
Walking the Walk
Dig a little deeper into that simple statement: 1) Walking implies proximity. To walk WITH someone, you have to be near them. Who are you near? Who do you walk with?
2) Walking with God suggests intentionality, since to walk TOGETHER means you both agreed to make that happen; (Amos 3:3 says, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”) Simple but true.
3) It implies intimacy, since you travel at a pace that allows for interaction and conversation.
4) Walking FAITHFULLY means it happened consistently with commitment, and it also suggests that Enoch walked the way God was going: Enoch. Followed. God.
5) Finally, it suggests strong individuality: apparently not everybody does it, since the Bible emphasizes Enoch’s life in three different places.
Quick, of all the people you know, who do you immediately think of as faithfully walking with God? Why do you see them that way? How much time do you spend with them? How do the people you DO spend time with walk? Does it lift you up or drag you down?
Take A Walk
This, of course, begs the question: Are YOU walking with God? Are you walking FAITHFULLY with God? When they write your obituary, and summarize what you did on this earth, don’t let it read, “He or she knew God was out there, kinda agreed with Him, but pretty much decided to only hang out with Him every now and then, and basically went his or her own way because they thought they knew better.”
Different types of walks have different types of results. Don’t wait for pie in the sky when you die by-and-by. Reach up, take your Father’s hand, and start walking.
A Good Walk
The Bible says that Enoch was out walking with God each day,
And then he “was no more” because God took him clean away!
Apparently he was more than just a guy who talked the talk;
Enoch rose above his peers because he walked the walk.
When someone writes the epitaph for all you say and do,
Who will they say you walked with, and who also walked with YOU?
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