Sunday, September 14, 2014

PART 1 - ENOCH "WALKED WITH GOD"....


In a world, where life is lived at warped speed, it is profoundly difficult to fathom our Life's Journey as a "Walk" with the Lord, our God. "Walking" implies an activity which is done at a steady and/or measured pace. It is even more delightful if done with someone whom you love or admire, such as a spouse, your children or a close friend. Even more precious, though, is our "Walk with the Lord".

We get a hint of how wonderful walking is when we read in Genesis 3:8 that ... they (Adam and Eve) heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Three things stand out here here: 

- The Lord (Jesus Christ the Creator) walks 
- His garden welcoming and comfortable with cool and full of trees
- The Presence of Him Who made us was in the Walk.

This may challenge theological thinking from seminaries and other man-made formulas, but I know now, that even when I was not walking with the Lord in my rebellious days, He was with me. I know that now, looking back at all the times He rescued me from the pit and those who would do me harm.  It is obvious that before they sinned, Adam and Eve walked and fellowship with the Lord. The above-mentioned verse confirms this.  But it was not just this truth, but the fact that Jesus also WALKED WITH them before the Fall! He was present and was with them as they did the work He called them to in the Garden.

The open and vile sin of both Adam and Eve of listening to a filthy serpent when you are accustomed to being the Presence of the Creator of this amazing Universe, is truly stunning. We all know the current state of the world is because of that sin, but for the purposes of "Walking with the Lord", what does this look like and what does it mean for us?

A much overlooked Biblical hero is a man named Enoch, a direct descendant of Adam and the great-grandfather of Noah. The Book of Genesis said this about Enoch: "Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him" (Genesis 5:22b–24).

Going back one verse to Genesis 5:21-22a, we see that something happened to Enoch at age 65...and this should be an encouragement to us, no matter how old we are...or even if we think we are TOO old and God cannot use us! This verse says in part "Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years." After Enoch became the father of the oldest man in the Bible - Methusaleh - it says that he walked with God for the next 300 years!

Methusaleh is important as his name literally means in Hebrew "his death shall bring judgment".  Methusaleh lived 969 years and at his death, the Great Flood was sent to cleanse the earth of all human degradation. Enoch means "dedicated" (Chanokh in the original Hebrew) and by his 300 year Walk with the Lord, his dedication led to his unique translation into Heaven. Enoch is only one of two men in the Bible who did not experience physical death. Elijah is the other one.

When God gives a name in Scripture, He is directly communicating something by that designation. He changed the name of Abram to Abraham. He changed the name from Saul to the Apostle Paul and called His chief disciple (Simon Barjonah) to Peter. When God caused Jared to name his son Enoch, the Lord knew that the latter would be dedicated to Him.

Since words mean thing, we need to look at the word "dedication" from whence Enoch's name was derived. Websters Dictionary described "Dedication" as the following:
a feeling of very strong support for or loyalty to someone or something 
an act or rite of dedicating to a divine being or to a sacred use
self-sacrificing devotion
the quality or state of being dedicated to a person, group, cause
the act of officially saying that something (or here, somebody like Enoch) was created for a particular purpose (such as worship) or to remember or honor a particular person.

Webster's has described the perfect Walk with God, without knowing it! A man (Enoch), whose name means dedicated, walked for 300 years as a loyal man of God who saw the evil of his day, and gave up worldly pleasures (in self-sacrifice) to remain true and loyal, having been set apart (or dedicated) for God, as one of His own. Being set apart like this is a perfect example of the sanctification, which the true woman or man of God is experiencing right now, due to our surrender to Jesus as Lord.

The man or woman of God was (and is) also created for the most particularly important function and that is to worship, honor and obey the Father. All of this is directly implicated in the name of Enoch!

Do we have this kind of dedication? If we do not, we are not walking in Spirit, Truth and Righteousness! Have we dedicated our life to walking with Him, in the fullness of His Presence?

Does our Walk glorify Him?
Are we walking behind or away from Him, by sins of omission as well as commission? 
Are we even walking ahead of Him, but not waiting on His prompting, guidance and direction which can only be gotten through prayer? By doing this, we are chasing windmills.
Are we?

These are questions which each individual has to answer on his or her own.  There is a benefit for the Christian to be walking in sync, and in God's timing and pace, rather than behind or ahead of Him. 

When we walk behind Him, we lose the blessings of His Presence and Power in our lives. We may even be at risk of backsliding and losing fellowship with Him.

When we walk ahead of Him, we short-circuit His wonderful plans and purpose for us and put ourselves in a world of hurt, due to our impatience. There is nothing more perfect than God's Timing. So why blow it by doing things your own way and not waiting on the Lord? 

We have all committed these errors and paid the price of stress, anxiety and failure. Isn't it time, therefore, to have the kind of walk - like Enoch - so that we too can say like the Psalmist "In Your Presence, there is fullness of Joy"!  This kind of fullness can only come, by walking daily and keeping pace with, the One Who saved us by His Grace.


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