God’s People on Mission

Enoch: Walk with God

Enoch has to be one of the most remarkable and mysterious men in the Bible. He lived in the time between Adam and Noah, he was the sixth decedent from Adam. That seems a fair way down until we realise that Adam was still alive and lived for many years at the same time in which Enoch was alive. We can only wonder at the relationship they might have had, the stories that would have been told.

What we do know, is that Enoch stood out among those who were alive at the time. He still stands out among those who have walked on this planet. But there is very little detail written about his life.

He is attributed as delivering the oldest prophesy given through a man in the Bible – a prophesy about the return of the Lord to judge the wicked on the earth. He also delivered an even more mysterious prophesy, but you’ll have to ask me about that one sometime. But the most intriguing fact about Enoch is that he is one of only two men (so far) who have ever lived but have never seen death. We read in Genesis:

And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. (Genesis 5:24)

And also in Hebrews:

By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. (Hebrews 11:5)

That would be a testimony we’d all be proud of – that ‘we pleased God.’ Surely Enoch is a man we should emulate if we want to be people who glorify God and are ready for God to work through us. Yet if we want to follow in his footsteps, all we have to go on is that ‘he walked with God.’ Great instruction – but light in detail. Fortunately, there are other passages that help us out here.

Noah is also a man who ‘walked faithfully with God,’ and the reference here is that he sought to live in obedience and keep himself from the corruption that the vast majority of the world had fallen into at the time.

Paul instructs us in a similar way. He writes:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him. (Colossians 2:6)

This verse encourages believers to keep walking and growing in Christ after receiving Him as Lord and Saviour. It teaches us that walking with God is not a one-time decision but a dedicated process of daily faith. And alongside passages like 2 Corinthians 5:17, teaches us that our New life in Christ is different to how we used to live when we were outside of Christ.

The Bible is filled with examples and blessings that come to those who walk with God, but what stands out to me as I read through so many of them in preparation for this, is that so often ‘walking with God’ is seen in contrast to following the ways of the world. Being someone who walks with God, most certainly helps position us in a place where God might work for His glory and purpose – and that means we must very deliberately turn our backs on the ways of the world, and walk with God and in the light of His Word.

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2  but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. (Psalm 1:1– 2)