Walk humbly with our God

He has showed you O man what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8

In the preceding verses Micah asks the people how best he should come before God. He suggests he should perhaps bring burnt offerings or thousands of rams or rivers of oil or even sacrifice his firstborn to show his sincerity. However God does not want extravagant outward shows of devotion, he wants lives committed to him by obedience. He wants his people to do the things he asks of them and to show the same kind of qualities as he does.

What God requires is justice because he is the God of justice. He wants us to give what is right and proper to people, to be truthful and honest and not to lie, cheat, steal or take bribes. He then requires us to love mercy because he is a merciful God. He wants us to show kindness and generosity to those in need or weaker than ourselves; not to trample on the poor but look after them. In several places in the Bible God berates his people for being full of meaningless religious activity instead of showing justice, kindness and mercy and looking after others (for example Isaiah 58: 6 – 10).

Finally Micah says that God requires that we walk humbly with him. This is the most important thing that God asks of us. It rates alongside ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength’ as fundamental to the Christian life. Everything else pales into comparison with walking with God. 

Enoch walked with God (Genesis 5:21). We know little about Enoch except his genealogy and that he walked with God for 365 years and then God took him away. He did not live like all his ancestors did – he walked with God – and he did not die like his ancestors – God took him away.  However this was enough for him to be included in the hall of fame of Hebrews 11 where it says that ‘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).  Enoch pleased God only because he walked with him.

Walking with God is incredibly important and is the most wonderful invitation that anyone can be given. Of course it is important that we show our faith through practical works but these must never be a substitute for our relationship with God.  Works must flow out of this relationship for when they do they will not be meaningless sacrifices or empty gestures. Instead they will be infused with the mercy and justice of God and come covered in his fingerprints.

Translated into heaven

The thing I like about Enoch’s life is that as he walked in ‘habitual fellowship’ with God for 300 years The Bible then says, ‘he was no more because God took him away,’ The Amplified Bible adds that God took him - home with him (Gen 5: 24). God didn’t just transport Enoch to another place, he took him to himself. That of course is our final wonderful destination if we believe and have entrusted our lives to God.

In Hebrews we learn a little more about Enoch and it confirms that ‘he did not experience death, he could not be found’; God had ‘taken him away’ (Hebrews 11:5).  The Amplified says he was ‘transferred to heaven’; he did not glimpse death because God had translated him. I love the idea of Enoch just going about his normal life, walking with God and then he was gone.  He didn’t even leave his body behind.

Only two people in the Bible were taken to heaven in this way; Enoch and Elijah.  Elisha witnessed the chariots of heaven coming to take Elijah. I wonder if anyone witnessed Enoch’s translation? 

Unlike Enoch, we will all probably experience death but this is not something to fear.  The Bible frequently talks about death as ‘falling asleep’.  We don’t fear falling asleep each night and we need not fear death. It is the doorway to our new eternal life to be spent in ‘habitual fellowship’ with our Lord.

Walking in agreement 2

Walking in agreement with God requires two things; agreement on where we are going and agreement on the speed of walking.  Our ultimate destination of course is heaven which is where all believers will go when they die but the path each of us walks in this life and the speed we walk that path will be different for each one of us.

Different does not mean one way is better than another way.  Nor does one person accomplishing something before we do make them a better person.  Different means just that – different. God’s plan or path for each one of us will be different and all God’s plans are ‘good, pleasing and perfect.’ 

God’s plan for our life is the best plan there is but so often we would prefer our plan.  There may be nothing wrong with our plans, we may desire to do some very good and worthwhile things but God’s plan is the best and his timetable may be very different from ours.  He may know that we need experience in some particular area or our characters honing in a particular way so that we will do well and succeed in our chosen path. 

God is far more interested in our character and attitudes than he is about our career or even ministry.  He is in the business of making each one of us as like Jesus as we can be.  That takes time but God is in no hurry. 

Each day let us commit our time, talents and resources to him and see God bring about his plans and purposes for our lives in his timing. 

Walking in agreement

Yesterday as we looked at the life of Enoch we saw that he walked with God for 300 years in habitual fellowship.  Walking together for any length of time with anyone requires quite a level of agreement.  In Amos chapter 3 it says, ‘do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?’ Walking together requires agreement on where we are walking and the pace we are walking at.  We cannot walk together in two different directions nor can we walk together at two different speeds.

If we are to walk with God for 300 days, let alone 300 years it will require an agreement on our part to walk with God and this will mean at his pace and in His direction.  God actually knows what is best for us and contrary to what a lot of people think, God will not ask us to do or go anywhere that is not good for us.  God is not waiting for us to agree to let him have his way in our life, so he can get us to do something horrible that we will hate.  We wouldn’t do that to our children so why would God want to do that to us? 

However, the best prayer we can say is to echo Jesus’ words in the garden of Gethsemane, ‘yet not my will but yours be done’.  God’s will for our life is good, pleasing and perfect according to Paul in Romans.  The more we can get our reluctant hearts to agree to that, the closer our walk with God will be. 

Walking with God

Enoch was a man who walked with God and who pleased God.  He appears in Genesis chapter 5 and then amongst the great men and women of faith in Hebrews 11.  We don’t know much about him but what we do know about him can be very helpful to us in our Christian life. 

Enoch walked with God for over 300 years.  It says in the Amplified Bible that he walked in habitual fellowship with God. Then in Hebrews it says that Enoch pleased God.  The two things must surely be connected.

Our Christian life is often called our walk.  A walk implies three things: progress is being made, the progress is at a steady pace (not stop – start, running, hopping or skipping) and it is a voluntary act, no one makes you.  If we think of Enoch for 300 years he voluntarily, in habitual fellowship made progress with God.  What a testimony.

Too often our Christian walk can be a very stop – start affair with many diversions and comfort breaks where we take comfort in things other than the things of God.  But God is so patient with us and though he will never make us or drag us along the path, he will persistently encourage us to make progress through habitual fellowship with him.  This takes time to learn but God never gives up. 

Can I encourage you to not give up on God or yourself even if the road you are walking at the moment is bumpy and hard?  God is with you, he never leaves you and if you place your hand in his, he will give you the strength to walk the path and the love and encouragement to stand up and start making progress again.