Walking with God

Readings for today: Genesis 6-7

Enoch walked with God. Noah walked with God. Abraham walked with God. It’s a phrase that’s repeated over and over again throughout the Bible to describe the lives of the righteous. They walk with God. They keep in step with the Spirit of God. They do not run ahead of God. They do not lag behind God. They walk with Him every hour of every day. Does this mean they are perfect? Surely not. All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Does this mean they never wander away? Not at all. All like sheep have gone astray. Does this mean they never stumble or fall? Nope. All of us stumble. All of us fall from time to time. But when we do we are not down for long because God has a grip on us.

We live in terrible times. At least that’s what we believe. Media outlets report horror story after horror story on a daily basis. Social media seems specifically designed to heighten tension and outrage and anger and hate. Extreme elements on either side of the political spectrum threaten to tear our country apart with their lies. Pressures on our families and communities are often too much to bear resulting in divorce, separation, and divisions. Our children bear the brunt of this stress, reporting increasingly high levels of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicidal ideation. (See Jonathan Haidt’s recent article in the Wall Street Journal on the “National Crisis of Gen Z.”) In the face of all this bad news, it’s easy to give up. It’s easy to turn inward and simply focus on ourselves. It’s easy to isolate out of a sense of self-preservation. But we are not the first to face such times…

“God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil—evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart. God said, “I’ll get rid of my ruined creation, make a clean sweep: people, animals, snakes and bugs, birds—the works. I’m sorry I made them.” But Noah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah. This is the story of Noah: Noah was a good man, a man of integrity in his community. Noah walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. As far as God was concerned, the Earth had become a sewer; there was violence everywhere. God took one look and saw how bad it was, everyone corrupt and corrupting—life itself corrupt to the core.” (Genesis‬ ‭6‬:‭5‬-‭12‬ ‭MSG)

But Noah was different. Noah was a good man. Noah was a man of integrity in his community. Noah walked with God. In the face of all the evil that surrounded him and hemmed him in on every side, Noah refused to isolate. Noah refused to give into the temptation to take care of himself. Noah refused to give into fear and instead chose the path of faith. Noah walked with God.

What our world needs more than ever are men and women who have the courage and faith to walk with God. To be people of integrity in their communities. To dare to be different in the name of Jesus. Today is a day of opportunity. A day to walk with God. To walk with God in our homes. To walk with God into our workplaces. To walk with God as we hang out with friends and those we love. To walk with God among our neighbors. Wherever you go and whatever you do, you are walking with God if you are a Christian. He is with you. He resides inside you through the presence of the Holy Spirit. He is there to guide you and protect you and lift you up if and when you fall. If you start to go astray, He will pursue you. He will never let you go. The call from God’s Word today is simply to be the man or woman God has created you to be. To walk intentionally with God through every circumstance of life.

Readings for tomorrow: Genesis 8-9, Psalms 12

Favor with God

Readings for today: Genesis 6-7

Father, through your Holy Spirit, illumine my heart to the truths you want me to see today. Open the wonders of the Word to me in such a way that I will be challenged and equipped and more deeply converted to the gospel. 

“Noah found grace in the eyes of God.” (Gen. 6:8)

“Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation, and Noah walked with God.” (Gen. 6:9)

“And Noah did unto all that the Lord commanded him.” (Gen. 7:5)

“By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” (Heb. 11:7) 

I want to be like Noah. I want to be a person of faith. A person who is willing to forsake the ways of the world and cling to God. A person who is able to see beyond the horizons of this life to the life to come. A person who is able to pierce the veil of this earthly existence and peer into the heavenly realm. In past years, I’ve been struck by the evil of humanity described in this passage or the grief of God that caused Him to “repent” (!!!) that He had ever made humanity in the first place. I’ve wrestled over the identity of the Nephilim or tried to wrap my head around the “sons of God” having sexual relations with the “daughters of man.” Is this an early description of the crossbreeding that took place between Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals? Does it refer to the angelic beings who were cast out of heaven now taking human women as wives and bearing half-demonic offspring? Lots of questions to ponder for sure but this year I found myself drawn again to Noah. A man who found grace or favor in the eyes of God. A righteous man. A blameless man. A man who walked with God. A man who obeyed all God commanded him. And I want to be more like him. 

How does one become such a person? By faith. Noah believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. The writer of Hebrews teaches us that it is impossible to please God without faith for whoever would draw near to God must believe He exists and rewards those who seek Him. (Heb. 11:6) Noah trusted God at a time when faith was in short supply. He believed God in a time when not much was known about Him. God had not yet revealed Himself on Mt. Sinai. God had not yet shared with humanity His divine name. God had not yet given the Ten Commandments. God had not yet made His covenant with Abraham. It’s hard for me to fathom how Noah knew God much less walked with God. Did he hear the stories of his great-grandfather Enoch? One of the very few other people in the Bible who “walked with God?” Did he hear his grandfather tell of the day when Enoch was “taken?” Did his family talk about Enoch’s character and manner of life? Did Noah make it his goal emulate him? Clearly, Noah must have known something about God. Must have believed he at least existed. Must have had a heart to seek God. And we know from Jeremiah 29:13 that “if we seek God, we shall find Him, provided we seek Him with all of our hearts.” Perhaps this seeking of God was enough for Noah to be declared righteous and blameless in his generation.

What we do know is once God chose Noah, Noah obeyed Him completely. He built the ark. Gathered the animals. Prepared for the long days and nights ahead when the floods would come and everything he knew would be destroyed. Noah must have endured ridicule and scorn from his neighbors. The writer of Hebrews suggests Noah’s act of obedience was a deliberate move to condemn the ways of the world. A rejection of the wickedness of the people who surrounded him. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to watch the world drown in judgment. To close your doors to your neighbors and friends. To shut out your community as the rains came and the floodwaters rose. But that’s exactly what Noah did. He separated himself from the evil of those he lived among and escaped the wrath and judgment of God when it came upon the earth. 

What does it mean for me to find favor with God? What does it mean for me to be righteous and blameless and walk with God? What does it look like for me to obey all God has commanded me? I have the benefit of living on the far side of the resurrection. God is not some shadowy, largely unknown being. He has revealed Himself completely and fully in the Person of Jesus Christ so faith for me is trusting in the life, death, and resurrection of my Lord. Righteousness and blamelessness come from walking with Jesus through all the ups and downs of life. Obeying God means obeying all Jesus has commanded His disciples in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. It means seeking Jesus with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Loving Him above all over loves. Serving Him above all else. Placing my entire life into His hands. By committing myself to Christ, I condemn the world with all it’s evil and wickedness and I become an heir to righteousness through adoption into God’s own family. 

Readings for tomorrow: Genesis 8-9, Psalm 12