May 4: TO WALK WITH GOD
After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. Genesis 5:22
All of us will face storms in life. It is a marvelous thing when we weather a storm well because of closeness with the Lord. But the time of crisis is not the same as the time for training. Character is developed most solidly in working through the mundane, everyday situations that do not qualify as an emergency. To walk with God, moment-by-moment, is what it means to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
When we choose to make Him the basis of our thought processes, we are giving Him permission to correct our mistaken thinking before we follow through with wrong actions. This is not to say that we will flawlessly filter all of our plans through His point of view and never make a mistake (1 John 2:1; 1:9), but the prayerful inclination and desire to be pleasing to Him constitutes training that is moving in the right direction. We will be tripped up from time to time. The secret to pleasing God is to get up, and persevere as a child of the King.
For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity (Proverbs 24:16). The seven times of this verse is a complete, prophetic reference to the spiritual frailties and weaknesses that we are—by the grace of the Lord—to overcome in this world of sin. Our spiritual archenemy especially targets God’s professed people, for he feels no compunction against those who have fallen and choose to stay down. They keep themselves down and choose the company of others who are in the same state – in essence, doing the devil’s work for him (see Job 15:35; Isaiah 59:4-5; James 1:14-15).
The humble men, women, and children who recognize their lowly estate, and that of those around them (Isaiah 6:5), are the ones who will choose to look upward, seeking the aid of the compassionate God of Heaven. Enoch walked with God (Genesis 5:24) in a spirit of perseverance to “get into stride” with Him. The attitude of Enoch on any given day was one of submission to the LORD. He was not under a spotlight, nor was anything extraordinary or exciting going on most days for three hundred years. . .
Isaiah said of Jesus: He will not fail nor be discouraged (Isaiah 42:4a), and this is because He was continually endeavoring to work from the viewpoint of His Father (John 6:38). We can learn to do the same, allowing God’s Spirit to change our paradigm.
He who says he abides in [Jesus Christ] ought himself also to walk, just as He walked. 1 John 2:6
Walk further with Him: Deuteronomy 10:12; Psalm 86:11; Proverbs 3:5-6; Amos 3:3; Micah 6:8; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:2; Colossians 2:6-7; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; Revelation 3:4