Walk with God

I WAS having my quiet time at a nearby restaurant early this morning. I decided to treat myself with a good breakfast while I was at it—today is Sunday, after all, and I'm free the entire day, and I can go to church at 9 am. 

There weren't a lot of people in that restaurant, the music wasn't distracting, and nobody knew me and vice-versa. With me were my Bible, my faux leather-bound second-hand copy of Oswald Chambers' My Utmost For His Highest, and my journal. I was so encouraged and convicted by my reading, so let me share with you what I learned.

"So all the days of enough were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." (Genesis 5:23-24).

The biblical account describes Enoch as a man "who walked with God" (Genesis 5:23). What a title! It's as intimate as David's "a man after God's own heart," for walking with someone requires that you spend time, a long time, together. There is proximity. There is familiarity. 

Oswald Chambers writes:

"The test of a man's religious life and character is not what he does in the exceptional moments of life, but what he does in the ordinary things, when there is nothing tremendous or exciting on. The worth of a man is revealed in his attitude to ordinary things when he is not before the footlights (cf. John 1:36)."

He continues:

"In learning to walk with God there is always difficulty in getting into His stride; but when we have got into it, the only characteristic that manifests itself is the life of God."

And he ends with this encouragement:

"Getting into the stride of God means nothing less than union with Himself. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don't give in because the pain is bad just now, get on with it, and before long you will have a new vision and a purpose."

I have so many things to confess. I've strayed away many times—but God has been faithful and merciful. My prayer for myself and for my friends is this: that we would live as Enoch had lived, walking with God until the end of our days on earth. After walking, after all, is eternal rest and joy.