WALKING WITH GOD

What do you think of when you hear the word “walking?”  I think about the incline in the road my husband and I walk on in the evening that brings on a huffing and puffing sound from my anatomy.  Now I know that’s negative, but it’s a reality with proceeding up that incline.   Yes, I need that incline to push my heart into better breathing rhythms.    And after I’ve completed that part of our walk, I’m not breathing any better, but there seems to be more oxygen in my steps down the hill.  I can even contribute to our conversation.   

Then my husband, who has much longer legs than I, seems to think that we can advance from a slow saunter with our feet, to a faster stride.   Our agreement each evening is walking…. not running or jogging, but a pleasant, even-paced movement of our feet.

It’s akin to travelling in the car with my hubby to a designated holiday spot.  Does your husband resemble mine on a motorized vehicle?   He has one goal:  get there in the quickest possible way, avoiding all refreshment stops and “pauses that do refresh.”   I often hear the phrase, “can you hold it another 20 minutes.”   I needn’t go into details.   I sometimes chuckle inside because if he’d ask for more directions, we would arrive earlier, don’t you think.   Is that a man thing in this country?

I’ve been thinking about this phrase “walking with God” and wondered what might be God’s perspective on a walk with Him.   And what would that look like in the shoe-leather of your life and mine?

Sometimes I don’t feel like the brightest button in town, so I thought it wise to check what the word “walking” actually means.   We could spend hours or more just on the word itself, but here’s what it means in its basic intention.

In the Hebrew it’s Halakha:  It means to walk in a particular way along life’s journey.  Generally speaking it implies going “along with, or moving.”   More specifically it’s a term for walking regularly in relationship or companionship with another; and, in that walk, go along with the other person’s set of ideas.

The Bible is full of stories of people encountering God’s movement in their lives.  Yes, He is “on the move” in your life and in mine.  But He wants each of us to travel with Him.   Isn’t that a precious truth?   He never wants us to travel alone…. or, even at a different speed than Him.   Don’t move ahead of Him, or lag behind, just walk with God.

In my study of this walking adventure, God brought my thoughts to Genesis.  Why not begin at the beginning where its first record of walking with God was communicated.

So we’re not alone on this road, I wanted to peek in on just two people:  Adam and Enoch.   There’s a common thread with these two individuals and each of us.  Each of them was “designed by God.”   Each was a masterpiece.  Their personalities, interests, appearance and walk of life were uniquely different, but each was framed by a loving Creator.  Both were designed to walk with God. 

Let’s peek in at the “first human companion” that God designed.

After God created the heavens and the earth, then He designed light (day light and night light), water, sky and land with grass, shrubs and fruit trees.   Then He made living creatures like cattle, creeping things and beasts of the earth which included everything we see in a zoo and more.  I love that He created koalas.

Here’s a good moment to indulge you in my “koala education program.”    Before moving to Australia I came to visit my sister-in-law over a year ago and we journeyed to the Corrumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.

 The moment my eyes fell on the Koala area, I just burst into tears.  As we approached the area I stood in the “I want a photograph of this experience” line.    I blew my cover and showed my ignorance by enthusiastically announcing how much I loved the Koala bears.

I was met with a firm insistence of the young lad that they were classified as marsupials, not bears.   I thanked him and moved to the end of the line.   I wasn’t going to allow his educated comments to ruin my eagerness for the marsupial hug.

At first, I felt self-conscious about my tears, but when I thought about it, my tears expressed my joy in what God had created.  And that’s a good thing!   So, if you ever see me at a zoo and I’m bubbling forth, just know I’m personally appreciating God’s critters. 

Back to Genesis.  Verse 6:  the first sprinkler system, “a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.”

Verse 7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” 

Had you ever thought that God created Adam as an adult?  He was created to walk as an adult…. with God.   He never had to crawl or learn to walk.   That thought never entered my mind until I did this study.

Verse 8 “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.   Adam came alive and God placed him in a “perfect environment.”

Verse 15 describes the first job description.  “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it.”   Adam was given a master gardener assignment. 

God also brought all the animals to Adam to give him the pleasure of naming each kind of animal, whether it flew, crawled or walked.

Then verse 21.  “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.   If there are any anesthesiologists reading this, can’t you appreciate God’s touch on Adam.  He did what you do for a living.

Vs 22 “Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.” 

Vs 23 “And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woooooo mannnnn, because she was taken out of man.”

Verse 16 “And the Lord God commanded the man, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; (in other words, have at it to everything before your eyes…my thoughts) but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

The perfect garden setting came with good & clear instructions.  Don’t you just love how clear, plain and precise God’s instructions were to this young couple.

And we all know what happened after that.   Adam and Eve ate from the one and only tree God told them not to eat.

Does this remind you and me of anyone?   Kind of like us, eh!   Just say don’t do that….and voila, we perk up to find out what we might be missing.   They went against God’s careful instructions.

God loved them so much that He never wanted either of them to see or experience what evil was.   God knew if they ate from that tree they would eventually die physically, and immediately die spiritually.

Meaning, the closeness they experienced with walking with God before they indulged in the “bite” …… would end.  Their eyes which had only experienced good, now they saw the evil of their hearts and lives and began to experience things they were never designed to see or feel. 

 God knew about sin and its consequences before this couple ever experienced the backlash of that tasty morsel.

Genesis 3, verse 7, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”   They never needed covering before.

Their experience before they disobeyed God (which is the big SIN word) was glorious.  They had a perfect mind, body and spirit and lived in a PERFECT WORLD.  Whatever that fruit was, it killed them.   More importantly, it killed their “closeness with God.   Oh they were alive, but now not attuned to God in a loving relationship like they had once experienced.

Verse 8 spills the beans on the events that were about to take place. 

“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.

This is the first mention of GOD’S PRESENCE WALKING in the garden.   God’s presence was made real and personal to Adam and Eve.   They enjoyed their “walks in the garden” before their devastating cuisine experience.

But when they sinned and ate from the tree they were instructed not to, everything in their physical and spiritual lives changed.

Verse 9 “then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “where are you?”    People may think that an unusual question God was tossing out there in this garden scenario.   

God wasn’t puzzled trying to locate the first couple, He was asking the question to help them see where they were……where they were in their “walking predicament.”

In reality their walk became disabled.  They could still proceed on their feet and walk physically, but there began a “strain” in their once close union with their Maker.

Adam responded in verse l10.  “So he (Adam) said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

His and her sin brought fears and apprehension about their Creator/Father.  They wanted to hide from God.  Are you kidding?  Where did they think they could hide from God?  They wanted to hide themselves, and all that they were, from the One who loved them.  

Let’s not be too harsh on them, don’t we many times want to hide from God.   Like the little girl hiding in plain sight of her Daddy with her hands over her eyes…. thinking if I can’t see you, you can’t see me.

After God finishes with explaining the consequences of their sin, He then does a beautiful thing in verse 21.   “Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of “skin,” and clothed them.  

Here’s the first Fashion Designer, God Himself covering their exposed bodies….and it wasn’t a flimsy covering like the couple designed themselves.  It was with the skin of some animal. 

See there, before we skip to another word, the death of someone had to take place to cover them in the garden.  We’ll see that later in history with Jesus.  

Are you wondering now…. when…… are we getting to the point of “walking with God.” 

You see Adam and Eve were the first couple to walk WITH HIM.  They were in a right relationship with Him…nothing blocking their friendship and intimacy in conversation.  All was out and in the open with nothing to hide.

Genesis 3:22 brings us to a conversation within the Trinity…. “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like ONE OF US, (trinity conversing) to know good and evil.  And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,”

If that couple remained, no doubt they would have gone to the Tree of Life and lived forever in that sinful state.”  

Vs 23 “Therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.   So He drove out the man (and woman) and placed a cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden.”

In a phrase…..they blew it.  Now they had to work for their food and deal with life in a new way.    Life would not be lived as usual.   Something they did willingly caused a separation of a wonderful walking relationship. 

He still loved them…. but there was a strain…a separation in intimacy.  They were still His creation …. but there was a problem, they weren’t in close relation.

God took care of problem in His way and time by coming to the earth Himself many years later….in the Person of Jesus Christ.   Jesus is GOD…. WITH SKIN ON.  

He died to take away the sins of the entire world and all the anger and judgement of God against sin and what it did to keep us from WALKING WITH GOD.   His death offered the entire human race complete forgiveness and an opportunity to WALK WITH GOD.

Personal application here……. He COVERED YOUR SINS and MY SINS…. all of them…. forever so we could “walk with Him.”

NOW…..LET’S GET WALKING ………………………………………………………….

Webster’s dictionary states that walking means:  moving!   Being in step, at a pace, a stroll, meandering or accompanying.

HEBREW:  Halak:  to walk in a particular way along life’s journey, in fellowship/relationship with God.   

Specifically it’s going along with and walking “regularly” in companionship with another and their set of ideas.

If your nylons aren’t off yet…. they will be before we finish our time on this walk.

The Bible is full of people walking with God…. but our travelling companion for a few moments will be Enoch.   If you have your Bible, his journey won’t be difficult to find.  It’s in Genesis 5…beginning with verse 18.

Spot checking Enoch’s life will be a “truckload of encouragement” to you and me.    

Let’s read God’s journal on Enoch; and let’s do so very slowly because we often miss so much of God’s truth when we read at a rapid pace.

The Bible wasn’t written so we could get through it quickly…. but God wants the Bible to “get through us!”

Gen 5:18 Jared (Enoch’s daddy) lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch. 

: 21 Enoch lived 65 years, and begot Methuselah.

: 22 after he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years, and had sons and daughters.

: 23 so all the days of Enoch were 365 years.

: 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

We sometimes think that the people mentioned in the Bible were super-spiritual and beyond human.  But they weren’t.  They are described as “humans.”  May I add some letters to that description? 

They were HUMAN…. BEINGS.   They were “being” “human.”   That’s not always a pretty picture, but God writes and communicates with accuracy. 

God inspired the writers to write the whole truth and nothing but the truth, with their warts and hang-ups and all.  

Aren’t you glad you weren’t living then so He could possibly write about your life and mine?

Here is God’s summary of Enoch’s life….in writing.  Circle if you wish, some tiny words that summarized his life.

LIVED

    BEGOT (he had a family)

          WALKED WITH GOD

                      LIVED 365 YEARS

                                WALKED WITH GOD

Can you notice with me all that was written about Enoch’s life?  There was no mention of accomplishments, goals realized, dreams, sermons, books written, speeches given, no mention of his education, trophies won, gold medals accepted.  

He was born, lived, had some children (family life), walked with God a very long time and then God was so pleased with Enoch that He just took him home.   He never died really; he just left the earth.

While we’re in the Old Testament, I want to share some verses that God introduced me to one year prior to the biggest move of my married life…. moving across the Pacific Pond to Australia.

Some years ago I began adjusting my reading material and realized I needed to see an ophthalmologist.  While I was in the waiting room, I saw this picture on the wall that said it all. 

It was a picture of a little boy trying on his new glasses.  It said:

          Dear God:   I can see you much better with my new glasses!

Seeing life out of the lens of God’s Word will give us all a proper perspective.   Here’s some verses for you and me to take seriously, and memorize in the next few months, and allow them to be a “compass of encouragement” for you….as they continue to be for me. 

Here is some walking with God verses.

Proverbs 4:24 “Ponder the path of your feet and let all your ways be established.”

Watch your feet, where you take them and where God takes them.   Allow or let your ways or paths be established.   No manipulation or orchestration by you.   We humans can do that so well. 

A new discipline would be to allow and look for God’s orchestrating your steps, responsibilities, goals, relationships, interests, opportunities.   

Your “plans-in-concrete” may look good to you; but we need to allow Him room to interrupt our plans and goals to re-establish where He would want you to be, to do and live. 

A friend I knew shared how she had heard about a party and wasn’t invited.   She manipulated an invitation.   Afterward she realized it wasn’t a place she needed to be and regretted that she “had herself invited.”   If you and I aren’t welcomed at an event, let’s not get our diapers in a knot and rejoice that God will see to it we ARE where HE would have us.

Proverbs 5:21 “For the ways of man (you and me) are before the eyes of the Lord, and He ponders all his (our) paths.”

Belonging to God is wonderful because He’s committed to watching, lovingly, to all our plans, steps and where we go.   His eyes of love, correction, care, encouragement and redirection are always before Him.

Proverbs 16:9 “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

You and I can make all the plans we like, and that’s not bad; but we should hold them lightly with margins and space for God to re-direct and move us in directions we never thought possible.  Plans for our “good and growth and His glory.”

And finally, to help reduce the stress that sometimes comes from the tug of war between our plans, and what we want and God’s plans are the words in Proverbs 20:24

Proverbs 20:24 “A man’s steps are of the Lord; how then can a man understand his own way.”

If we belong to and are committed to Him—— going His way…. every day, in every way, even when we fall, fail and sometimes not on board with Him, He is committed to helping us walk with Him.

He assures us not to be in stress mode trying to understand all the details of our walk.   Trying to understand the details will just bring you and I stress and take our eyes off the Lord.

Remember the story in the Bible about Joseph and his being in prison, and he wasn’t in there for any wrong doing on his part.

QUOTE FROM:  The Upward Call (by David Jeremiah):

“But the butler forgot him, and Joseph’s hopes again faded.  Still, he waited on the Lord.  He had no choice; but no other choice could have been better for him.   Though forgotten by the butler, Joseph was not forgotten by the Lord. 

The folly of not waiting for God & walking with Him and His timing is that we forfeit the blessing of having God work for us.”  

Isaiah 64:4: “For since the world began, no eye has seen or ear heard of a God like You Who works on behalf of those who wait for Him.”

Here’s a promise for our heart’s journey:

Walking with God is moving at His pace, with His companionship, and with His purposes(His set of ideas/plans/purposes) in mind.

WALKING WITH GOD IS…………………

Putting one foot in front of another, one step at a time, one moment at a time, one day at a time each & every day in our daily oatmeal routine, allowing and working at God’s pace, His establishing your moment-by-moment steps……as your companion.

Walking where He leads, at His direction and orchestration, going hand-in-hand with Him, not pushing ahead of His timing, or purposes.

Walking with a disciplined habit, routine or activity that helps you practice His living presence with you.  Listening to His Word, Christian lyrics in music, being with encouraging Godly friends who enjoy talking about the Lord.

Reading the Bible is the compass that journeys us with Him and through its pages of truth and encouragement.

And when Jesus was here on earth, the disciples were walking around with Him.   John 1:38

“Andrew’s mind was filled with questions he longed to ask.”   Instead of entering into a theological dialogue with Andrew, however Jesus turned and began ‘to walk’.    Andrew’s questions would not be answered by discussion alone, but by walking with Him. 

Christianity is a Person to follow!  Andrew not only learned about God; he actually experienced Him as he walked with Him.”

He loves you and He loves me and sometimes He walks where we’d never choose, but His love and knowledge of you and me will take us the best route for His kingdom purposes and our growth in faith and ministry to others.    

The entire purpose of our life is to know and experience God in the everyday, oatmeal days and oatmeal realities of our lives; realizing God is alive and cares about every detail of our life. 

THAT IS OUR WALK WITH HIM.

The one incredible aspect I learned about this journey of studying how God walks is that our feet aren’t the main ingredient. 

We begin walking with our mind and heart…our will…. our choices.   He never pushes us to walk with Him, He just invites us to walk with Him and get moving in His direction. 

Perhaps you’ve never considered walking with your Creator or perhaps you’ve wandered off the path you once were on.  His arms are always open.

When a baby first begins to walk and stumbles and falls over and over again and again, a good and loving parent’s arms are always open and their words filled with encouragement.   Yes, you can do it.  Come to Daddy or Mommy.  

Maybe for the first time, you’ve realized that God’s voice to you is always ….

“Come unto Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.    Take my yoke upon you.  Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”   

Our soul is the real you and the real me…. resting in the care of our Creator-Savior.  Matthew 11:28, 29

Can you hear Him say, to your heart?

” COME TO ME……COME TO DADDY”