As an American, my life until living in Europe was oriented toward driving everywhere. I didn't live places that had extensive walking trails and as anyone who has lived in America knows, except for dense urban areas, people don't generally use their feet as a mode of transportation. It's simply not practical. Things are very far apart.
After living in Europe for seven years, I've really embraced the whole walking thing -- as both recreation and as my primary way of getting around. I love it. As a fidgety, active person who has trouble sitting still, walking not only is a pleasant way to get to the grocery store and run any number of errands, it's become a favorite way to exercise as well as to clear my head, get fresh air, and find time and space to pray and think.
Maybe this new lifestyle is why a certain phrase I kept noticing in Genesis captured my imagination in a new way: "He walked with God."
The first time it is used with an obscure character named Enoch of whom we know scarcely anything (Genesis 5:21-24). Yet, the writer says twice of him in just one paragraph, "And Enoch walked with God."
In the Flood story where the writer describes the human race as already so incredibly depraved that God actually regrets creating human kind (Genesis 6:6), one man stands out as righteous in God's eyes: Noah. The writer says, "Noah was a just man [and] perfect in his generations, [and] Noah walked with God."
There it was again: Noah walked with God.
Then, there is Abram. I have recently come to realize what a profoundly amazing man he was. I think I lacked the proper respect for Abraham until recently. I unconsciously viewed him as a backward, uneducated, Bronze Age nomad who, yeah, gives us a good example of faithfulness and believing God's promises, but who also did some pretty dumb things that created a lot of messes God had to get him out of.
Yet, in re-reading his story this winter, I found myself humbled and even humiliated by his deep and unshakeable trust in God through decades of waiting for God's promises to be fulfilled. I was most awed by the moment when he agreed to slay his only son as a sacrifice because God commanded him to do so. His beautiful, pure faith in God in that moment far outstrips any faith I will ever have in God. And I was stunned by his seeming prophetic declaration that reached more than a thousand and five hundred years beyond him: that God would provide another sacrifice in his son's place -- a glimpse into the future when God would send His only Son as a once-for-all sacrifice to atone for the sin of all humankind (Genesis 22:8).
This simple, ancient nomad possessed a faith more deeply rooted than I'm sure I will ever have. And what rooted him in this way?
"The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you....So Abram went."
In essence, he took off on a journey with God. I think it is no coincidence that later, when they are in conversation, God says, " I am God Almighty[a]; walk before me faithfully and be blameless."
The repetition of this image of "walking with God" caused me to reflect, "What does it mean to walk with God?"
"Walk" is obviously an action word. It stands in contrast to the idea of sitting quietly or passively. Walking implies that a person is moving from one position to another. Possibly a journey? It can be both an act of aimless wandering or a brisk journey to a specific, intended destination.
A few years ago when I was struggling to be faithful in Bible reading and prayer because I sat at a computer all day for my job and had zero patience left for sitting any more of the day, I began a practice of listening to a Bible reading podcast and prayer while jogging or walking for an hour. This helped tremendously with my focus and consistency of spending time with God. I would walk and listen to the Bible passages, reflect, and pray. For me, having permission to physically "walk with God" each day was incredibly refreshing.
But I think this phrase in Genesis means much more.
Recently, I attended several lectures by the missiologist Alan Hirsch. He described the disparity between how Jesus discipled his followers in contrast with how we do so in Western civilization today. Our modern evangelical churches tend to conduct discipleship through reading and studying together, where we read books and examine ideas and discuss them. He said this model expects ideas to precede or generate behavioral change. Yet, he said, studies show that changed ideas or beliefs don't automatically lead to changed behavior, to transformation.
James 2:19: "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that -- and shudder."
The demons who believe in God certainly are not transformed.
Hirsch descibed Jesus' way of discipling: He and his disciples walked all over the place together for three years. They not only listened to his teaching, but he gave them assignments: heal people in my name; take only your cloak and staff and go from town to town teaching about the kingdom; feed the crowds. Hirsch said they actually learned by doing. Often they didn't understand what they were doing until later, sometimes much later. Their ideas and understanding and belief changed as a result of doing things first.
At one point, Jesus tells his listeners that if they want to be his disciples, they must pick up their cross and follow him. He is so often asking people to "follow me." Again, another action phrase. A challenge to walk with Jesus.
What does it mean to walk with God? It seems to be about knowing God intimately through a journey that includes action, obedience, sacrifice, faith, personal growth, asking questions, slowly developing understanding, sometimes suffering, sometimes experiencing joy.
There is nothing passive about relationship with God.
After living in Europe for seven years, I've really embraced the whole walking thing -- as both recreation and as my primary way of getting around. I love it. As a fidgety, active person who has trouble sitting still, walking not only is a pleasant way to get to the grocery store and run any number of errands, it's become a favorite way to exercise as well as to clear my head, get fresh air, and find time and space to pray and think.
Maybe this new lifestyle is why a certain phrase I kept noticing in Genesis captured my imagination in a new way: "He walked with God."
The first time it is used with an obscure character named Enoch of whom we know scarcely anything (Genesis 5:21-24). Yet, the writer says twice of him in just one paragraph, "And Enoch walked with God."
In the Flood story where the writer describes the human race as already so incredibly depraved that God actually regrets creating human kind (Genesis 6:6), one man stands out as righteous in God's eyes: Noah. The writer says, "Noah was a just man [and] perfect in his generations, [and] Noah walked with God."
There it was again: Noah walked with God.
Then, there is Abram. I have recently come to realize what a profoundly amazing man he was. I think I lacked the proper respect for Abraham until recently. I unconsciously viewed him as a backward, uneducated, Bronze Age nomad who, yeah, gives us a good example of faithfulness and believing God's promises, but who also did some pretty dumb things that created a lot of messes God had to get him out of.
Yet, in re-reading his story this winter, I found myself humbled and even humiliated by his deep and unshakeable trust in God through decades of waiting for God's promises to be fulfilled. I was most awed by the moment when he agreed to slay his only son as a sacrifice because God commanded him to do so. His beautiful, pure faith in God in that moment far outstrips any faith I will ever have in God. And I was stunned by his seeming prophetic declaration that reached more than a thousand and five hundred years beyond him: that God would provide another sacrifice in his son's place -- a glimpse into the future when God would send His only Son as a once-for-all sacrifice to atone for the sin of all humankind (Genesis 22:8).
This simple, ancient nomad possessed a faith more deeply rooted than I'm sure I will ever have. And what rooted him in this way?
"The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you....So Abram went."
In essence, he took off on a journey with God. I think it is no coincidence that later, when they are in conversation, God says, " I am God Almighty[a]; walk before me faithfully and be blameless."
The repetition of this image of "walking with God" caused me to reflect, "What does it mean to walk with God?"
"Walk" is obviously an action word. It stands in contrast to the idea of sitting quietly or passively. Walking implies that a person is moving from one position to another. Possibly a journey? It can be both an act of aimless wandering or a brisk journey to a specific, intended destination.
A few years ago when I was struggling to be faithful in Bible reading and prayer because I sat at a computer all day for my job and had zero patience left for sitting any more of the day, I began a practice of listening to a Bible reading podcast and prayer while jogging or walking for an hour. This helped tremendously with my focus and consistency of spending time with God. I would walk and listen to the Bible passages, reflect, and pray. For me, having permission to physically "walk with God" each day was incredibly refreshing.
But I think this phrase in Genesis means much more.
Recently, I attended several lectures by the missiologist Alan Hirsch. He described the disparity between how Jesus discipled his followers in contrast with how we do so in Western civilization today. Our modern evangelical churches tend to conduct discipleship through reading and studying together, where we read books and examine ideas and discuss them. He said this model expects ideas to precede or generate behavioral change. Yet, he said, studies show that changed ideas or beliefs don't automatically lead to changed behavior, to transformation.
James 2:19: "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that -- and shudder."
The demons who believe in God certainly are not transformed.
Hirsch descibed Jesus' way of discipling: He and his disciples walked all over the place together for three years. They not only listened to his teaching, but he gave them assignments: heal people in my name; take only your cloak and staff and go from town to town teaching about the kingdom; feed the crowds. Hirsch said they actually learned by doing. Often they didn't understand what they were doing until later, sometimes much later. Their ideas and understanding and belief changed as a result of doing things first.
At one point, Jesus tells his listeners that if they want to be his disciples, they must pick up their cross and follow him. He is so often asking people to "follow me." Again, another action phrase. A challenge to walk with Jesus.
What does it mean to walk with God? It seems to be about knowing God intimately through a journey that includes action, obedience, sacrifice, faith, personal growth, asking questions, slowly developing understanding, sometimes suffering, sometimes experiencing joy.There is nothing passive about relationship with God.
