One of my daughter Amy’s favorite activities is going on a walk with me. I would like to say it’s because she likes to spend time with me. But I know the real reason. These walks always include a stop at a local fast-food restaurant, where I buy her some hot chocolate. Even though the drink is the highlight of the walk, we do get to spend time together as well. That is a bonus.
The Bible also talks about walking, but with our Heavenly Father. Genesis 3:8 suggests that before they sinned, Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden of Eden. This refers to the preincarnate Jesus Christ. Adam and Eve had the privilege of spending time with Christ on these walks. It is a great picture of intimacy with Him. I wonder what they discussed.
In Gen 5:24, we are told that Enoch also walked with God. He is one of only two people in the Bible who never died. Because of his intimacy with the Lord—as implied by his walking with God—the Lord “took him.”
It must have been something to walk with the Lord in the Garden as Adam and Eve did, and I jealously wonder what Enoch learned on his walks with Him.
Noah was a righteous man. Not surprisingly, he is also described as a man who “walked with God” (Gen 6:9). Because this is said about him, we know that he was close to the Lord.
All these people were blessed because of the time they spent with the Lord. They all learned truths about Him. In addition, Enoch was blessed with never experiencing death, and God repopulated the post-Flood world through Noah.
The good news is that as believers, we can walk with the Lord as well. We do that when we spend time with Him in His Word and when we ask Him to live through us (2 Cor 3:18). Paul speaks of believers who please the Lord by walking worthy of Him (Col 1:10). He refers to such an experience as walking in the Spirit (Gal 5:16). Paul exhorts believers to “walk as children of light” (Eph 5:8).
The Gospels provide a clear picture of these spiritual truths. The disciples walk with Jesus. They follow Him wherever He goes. They talk with Him and receive His instruction. He was—and is—the Light of the World. When they walked with Him, they were walking in the light (John 8:12).
John continues this theme in his first epistle. Believers who obediently desire to follow Christ are said to “walk in the light.” John describes such a walk as one in which the believer is in fellowship with the Lord—spending time with Him and learning from Him (1 John 1:6-7). That was the experience common to Adam, Eve, Enoch, Noah, and the disciples in the Gospels.
Wouldn’t it be great if our lives could be described that way—walking with God? Amy assures me that the hot chocolate she drinks on our walks is a wonderful blessing. She sometimes says it is the best part of her day. If we, as believers, are not walking with the Lord, just think what we are missing.
