Want God to walk with us (wish) or want (decide) to walk with God.!?
A walk as we all would agree is basically the beginning step towards a course of action. An ideal walk is the one where we move forwards (in correct direction) in a purposeful way. For such a walk, physical strength isn’t all! It requires a clear vision along the path and a strong heart (stability with a pace) till the end.
We read Enoch walked with God after the birth of Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters (Genesis 5:22). Here, walk refers to a relationship on a solid foundation of faith and submission to an extent that Enoch was in habitual fellowship with God. He didn’t have to move to another planet nor to a country or family so that he could be with God. Instead He lived in this world with his wife and children, fulfilling responsibilities of a parent, a husband, a son, a sibling, a neighbor like any other person should and still not even for once did he have a cheat day in his habitual fellowship with his creator. We read in Genesis 3:8, “And they 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.” We see Lord God walking in the garden (V. 8) and hearing the sound, Adam and Eve realize them as the footsteps of God and they hide because of fear which emanated from their sin. [There are arguments amongst Bible scholars about the fact if God was in the habit of visiting with Adam and Eve in the Garden (walking in the garden with Adam and Eve) before their disobedience.] We also read about God escorting the Israelites through their journey in OT, but we find that the people who wanted God’s guidance were mostly disobedient, unfaithful and angry throughout the journey towards the God who loved and called them His own henceforth brought them out of captivity.
Thus, it is clear that a decision (irrevertible commitment) from our side to walk with God is better than having an extreme longing for God to walk with us. 2 Chronicles 17:3-4 states, “The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the first ways of his father [David]. He did not seek the Baals. But sought and yearned with all his desire for the Lord, the God of his father, and walked in His commandments and not after the ways of Israel.” Jehoshaphat walked like his forefather David and didn’t choose to live like Israelites. When we are driven by just a longing eventually like Adam and Eve, we may have to run and hide away thus lose track of the presence of God in the long run, because of the list of disobediences we commit knowingly and unknowingly. But when it comes to make an irrevertible commitment, two facts matter.
- Requires a greater degree of faith and submission.
- God steers (controls) the walk; where He walks we move alongside.
When we dwell and walk in such a commitment, the Lord who was with Jehoshaphat because of His walk will guide us in this foreign land; in this living as a pilgrim and sojourner and ultimately lead us safely to our homeland. Noah is the living proof. In the generations of Noah the earth was depraved and putrid in the sight of God, and the land was filled with violence (desecration, infringement, outrage, assault, and lust for power). We read that when God looked upon the world and saw how degenerate, debased, and vicious it was, for all humanity had corrupted their way upon the earth and lost their true direction He grieved. But Noah stayed a just and righteous man, blameless in his [evil] generation; Noah walked with God and he found His favor which saved him and his family while the flood killed everyone else (Genesis 6).
So like Enoch was in habitual fellowship with God; and he was not, for God took him [home with Him], (Genesis 5:24) Let us stop living!! Let’s strive to be in a habitual fellowship. Let us walk in love, like Christ, as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God. Let’s not be partakers with the sons of disobedience. Thus let us walk with the Holy Spirit and follow Jesus who alone is able to present us as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.
Walk the best walk of all time!
Have a great day!
God bless!
