from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Read Genesis 5:21-24; 24:40; 48:15; Malachi 2:6

In the Garden of Eden, before God’s open, natural fellowship with us was destroyed by sin, it apparently was God’s practice to walk with Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the day.

Now read the brief account of Enoch in Genesis 5:21-24. According to this list, Enoch was the seventh generation of Adam’s line. Twice in four verses we’re told that Enoch walked with God (vv.22, 24). As a result, Enoch did not die as most other men did and do. God was so pleased with Enoch that He took him directly to Himself.

But Enoch was not the only person who walked with God:

• The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless.” (Genesis 17:1, NASB)

• When Abraham was nearing death, he summarized his life by saying that he had walked before God (Genesis 24:40).

• Just before Jacob’s death, as he was blessing Joseph, he said that his fathers Abraham and Isaac had walked before God, and that God had been his shepherd all his life (Genesis 48:15).

• God’s priests were to walk with Him in peace and uprightness (Malachi 2:6).

• The prophet Micah summed up our whole obligation to God this way:

He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8, NASB)

All these people from various ages and times were to please God by walking with Him or walking before Him. Such walking suggests something done regularly, repetitively, continually, day after day. It suggests living in God’s presence, in ongoing fellowship with Him, in contact with Him and in response to Him.

What a beautiful way to live! Many have experienced it, and God wants it for you and with you.