A Great Cloud of Witnesses: EnochSample

The account of Enoch fascinates me. First, he walked with God and never dies; God took him! He was taken by God at the age of 365, but he fathered Methuselah, who lived for 969 years. His account in Genesis is extremely short, but as we see in Hebrews, it was incredibly important. His faithfulness should be emulated, so let’s take a deeper look specifically at what it means to walk with God.

Enoch is noted to have walked with God, but God doesn’t spell out what he did or how he did it. All we know is that Enoch’s faith pleased the Lord (Gen 5:22; Heb 11:5-6). We know that to walk with God would mean a deep and abiding relationship. But the prophet Micah gives us a glimpse of what it might have meant for Enoch to walk with God. After the people of Israel ask questions about what they should bring to the Lord, what is required of them by God—all of which is outward focused rather than regarding the state of their hearts—God answered and the people responded: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Mic. 6:8).

Jesus emphasized the importance of this aspect of faithfulness too. The Pharisees were sacrificing through their tithes but neglecting these weightier aspects of walking with God. Jesus said, “For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness” (Matt 23:23). Again we see the importance of justice, kindness, and faithfulness or humble walking, which is evidence of a transformed heart. So, it’s a safe assumption based on the whole of Scripture to assume that Enoch walked in such a way.

And we can too. By God’s grace, we can walk with an understanding of right and wrong (just living) and act in a way that loves our neighbor. As an extension of that, we can extend the same mercy to others as God has extended to us (loving-kindness). And finally, we can, by His grace, walk in a manner that acknowledges God as Creator and ruler of the world (humbly). We can confess dependence on Him. And if we want to do justice and love mercy, we will need God.

When you consider what it means to “walk with God,” what comes to mind?