Walking With God

 

Enoch walked with God.  His name, Chanokh, means dedicated.  It represents both a dedication, like a baptism, where he is given to God, and also the act of being dedicated, in his unique commitment to God.  Enoch was in the lineage of Seth, who was given to Adam and Eve for comfort as Cain killed Able.  It was through Seth’s son that people began to call on the name of the Lord.  

 It was after Enoch fathered Methuselah that Enoch became serious about ordering his life around walking with God.  The son, Methuselah, means a man of the dart.  I imagine Methuselah was a dart in a couple of ways: 

-  He was a dart to Enoch’s heart that changed him in a way that helped him walk closer to the Lord.   Isn’t that true of our kids?  As our love is so deep, we grow in depth through the experience of children. 

 - He was also a dart that was to hit the mark prophetically in bringing the close of the era.  There was a bigger work that God was doing.  While the flood didn’t happen in Methuselah’s lifetime, he brought about the end of the era, and Enoch, in naming him, shows he sees it coming. 

It was through Methuselah, who lived a full 969 years, that Lamech came, Noah’s father, who prophesied through Noah relief from the painful toil would come, living 777 years and marking the completion of an era.

Lamech’s name means powerful and strong. It is interesting that Cain also bore a son named Enoch, and in his lineage was a man named Lamech. Lamech, from Cain's lineage, was a man strong and powerful in his own might, bringing revenge seventy-sevenfold on anyone who wounded him.  

We see through these two separate lineages, the one blessed by following God’s path and the other cursed by following the way of wickedness and violence. As the lineage moves forward, in the one, they become more violent, as it says, “Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-fold.”

In this, we also see two forms of “powerful and strong.”  One was powerful in godly ways that resulted in fruitfulness, fathering Noah and marking the end of the hardness of life and toil they experienced as a direct result of Adam and Eve's sin.  The other was powerful in the worldly ways of fear and intimidation. 

Also, we see this unique experience of the one Enoch who walked with God and was taken up by Him, never to see death.   His name, meaning dedicated, showed great dedication to the Lord.    To walk with God is the Hebrew word, Halak, Strongs# 1980, and means to come, go along, accompany, attend, and continually follow.

 It is the same word that the Bible used when God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:8. It is interesting that it is first used to describe the rivers that flowed through the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:14.  There is a flowing with His river that happens in walking with the Lord.

Psalm 119:1 also uses this same word when it says, “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.”  It goes on to say that those who seek Him with their whole heart and do no wrong are the ones blessed.

The Psalmist proclaims that they will fix their eyes on the Lord's ways and delight in His statutes  (Psalm 119:16).   This is also a place of friendship.   From John 15:15, we know that God shares what he is doing with his friends.  There is an understanding of His ways, His faithfulness, and expectation of good through what He is doing. Enoch was consumed with God and his soul longed for his commandments to fill the earth.  He longed for this new era to come forth as he walked along with God.  He delighted in the work that God was planning as the world was evil and corrupt with power using fear and intimidation. 

Thinking about their times, a coming flood would take many out of the world. This could appear looming and grieving if Enoch did not trust God. We see this trust and expectation of good flow through Lamech as he prophesies that Noah will bring an end to this painful toil they were experiencing and open the way for a greater connection with God. 

In our own era, as we are beginning to experience the revival of the third great awakening and the equipping of the saints with the gifts of the Spirit for the great harvest, it calls for a place of trust and anticipation that the best is yet to come instead of fear.  It is a knowing that what God is bringing is better than we have ever known. 

Looking at Psalm 119 as a means of walking with the Lord, we walking with Him comes from the place of the heart. The Psalmist proclaims that they will follow His commands when He enlarges their hearts. They know they need to understand His ways and observe them with their whole hearts (Psalm 119:34).

There is not a fear or intimidation of getting it wrong, but a delight and joy in running after Him.   The Psalmist is repulsed by the ways of the world in desiring selfish gain and turns away from worthless things that would tempt them down the wrong path. 

The Psalmist realizes in having such freedom and delight, that they are walking in a wide place.  It is not too narrow or hard, but they are following the joy of their heart and delighting in His goodness.  There is no reproach to dread (Psalm 119:39).

Noah, it says, also walked with God.   He did not get caught up in the evil of the day.  Interesting, that the evil of the day when the flood came stemmed from these “men of renown.” People idolized being great and were sleeping with the gods, wanting to become gods themselves.  Like the superheroes of our day in the movies, they were people seen for doing good. 

This, becoming like gods, led up to the flood, wiping them all out and this incredible baptism through water, with the people nestled in the ark.  Let's just stop and think about this for a moment-- Seleah: Some people think that because they do good, they are going to heaven.  Here, it is the reason they were being wiped out!   Do we try to be known for doing good or are we nestled in the Ark of His love, trusting and surrendering, letting Him take us through some stuff?

 After they came out of the ark, the Lord repeated the blessing upon them as when Adam and Eve were formed.  He told them to be fruitful and multiply, increasing greatly upon the earth.  The flood had also prepared them for covenant with the Lord.

But, even after this baptism, the people still had to deal with sin.  We see Noah drinking too much wine and his youngest son, exposing him rather than covering him.  Exposing his father, a deep betrayal, was significant enough to cause his father to put a generational curse on Ham.

Another sin we find as the people spread out on the earth is unity outside of God. People came together as one, but as they did, they were looking to make a name for themselves (their own renown) rather than beholding God’s greatness.  

Sometimes people think unity is what God is looking for and the end game.   In our day, we see there is an overall claim to peace that comes from unifying and accepting all religions as one.   But the purpose of this unification is not to glorify God but to build a tower of greatness outside of God.   He can only be found in walking in His ways.

Coming back to walking with God and what Psalm 119 can teach us: the Lord is their portion and the desire of their heart. In walking with God, He is central.  The book of Kings shows how people often fall short of this calling: “To this day they do according to the former manor” (2 Kings 17:34). 

What is their former manor?  Sacrificing to and serving gods that they think will make THEM great.  The Lord speaks to His people to not forget the covenant that He has with them.  He will care for them and provide for what they need.  But they want more.  So they not only fear the Lord, but also go on to serve carved images (2 Kings 17:41).

 The people didn’t let go of their old ways or the ways of the world to walk with God.  It was not that they chose not to walk with Him, but they also brought in all this stuff that diluted their relationship with the Lord.   In their distance, they neither listened nor obeyed, but did what was right in their own eyes.

 So, what do we reach out to because we want renown?  In what ways do we serve our own greatness?  At one time, I felt God speak to me to get rid of my title.  It was an Asherian Pole for me.  It is what we stick up there to wave around and tell of our own greatness.  Instead, I changed my title to reflect my relationship with the Lord—daughter, His, beloved.   But eventually, keeping things in the right order in the workplace, my boss had me change it back :)

 I can see how it can get in the way of my whole life, reflecting His greatness.   Whenever it becomes about my renown, I am off track. AI can be an example of this.  Not that computers are evil, but the promise to make us great – for our own renown, in joining with them as one, is evil.  Even in doing good, if it does not bring glory to God, but to man, it is an idol.   Even further, based upon the verses in Psalm 119, whenever I move away from delighting in the Lord as I trust in HIm, I am off track.  I have lost my footing. 

Do we trust Him with abandon? Do we put ourselves in the Ark of His love and let Him take us through some stuff while we hang on, trustingly, for what He is bringing us in to?  

Lord, we long to walk closely with You.  As Amos reminds us, how can two walk together unless they agree?  In Your steadfast love, give us understanding to walk in Your ways.  Help us to live for glorifying you and not for bringing glory to ourselves.  Give us delight in Your ways as we trust in You.