Effective this week, I discontinued the “Wednesday Walk in the Park with God” ministry that had been in place over this summer, due to a lack of attendance. It was my hope that this would be a way to reach out to our community, but God obviously had other plans. However, this does not mean that our walks stop, either.
Every time that I stepped foot onto that trail, I was always considering, “What does it mean to walk with God?” Is God right there walking along beside me, or does “walk” take on a different meaning in this situation? When I opened my Bible, the first mentioning of walking with God comes in Genesis, wherein Adam and Eve “heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze” (3:8, NRSV). Yes, Adam and Eve got to experience walking alongside God in the Garden of Eden, God’s physical presence with them there in that divine paradise. Yet, as we know, humnaity was banished from the Garden due to Adam and Eve’s actions of partaking of the fruit from the tree of knowledge. So, could humanity ever walk with God again?
The next mentioning of people walking with God comes a few chapters later in Genesis, wherein it mentions “Enoch walked with God” (5:22, 24) and “Noah walked with God” (6:9). Here, walking must take on a different meaning, musn’t it? We don’t know a lot about Enoch, other than he lived to be 365 years old and was Noah’s great-grandfather. Yet, anyone familiar with even the most basic of Sunday School lessons recalls who Noah is. Noah was chosen by God to build the ark which saved his family and many animals from the Great Flood, for “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation” (6:9). So, is walking with God associated with being righteous? Must we be blameless in order to be considered one who “walked with God?” Noah’s father, Lamech, and grandfather, Methusaleh, are not mentioned as walking with God, it is only Noah and Enoch who are considered as doing so.
So, where does this leave us? How do we walk with God? It obviously is not about physically taking steps, but must be about something more. I think it is spiritual in nature, that we acknowledge who God is in our lives and align our lives to be in step with God’s plans for us, for this alignment with God’s will is righteousness and if we are righteous, then we are certainly have nothing upon which blame can be cast upon us. Walking with God is about being in God’s presence every step that we take in life, constantly remembering why we were created and for whom. Where are you in your walk today?
Always pondering,
Pastor Steve