WALKING WITH GOD | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 25, 1880

WALKING WITH GOD.

"And Enoch walked with God." Gen. 5:24.

WHAT a lesson does Enoch give us! It is said of him that he "walked with God." But can a man walk with God? Is it possible to walk with God? We know it is delightful to walk with a friend. It would be a great thing to have it to say that we had walked arm in arm with the Emperor Alexander, or with Napoleon, or with some of the great men of earth. It would be greater still if we could say we had walked with angels; if they had come to sit with us as they did with Abraham, and to talk; if they had come to visit us, as they did Manoah; if they had come to wait upon us, as they did upon the Saviour when they gathered around the Bethlehem to which he came, or the garden in which he suffered, or the cross on which he hung, or the tomb in which he lay, or when they waited over the top of Mount Olivet that they might greet him home to Heaven, and cry out: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in." It would be a great thing to walk with angels, and to have them for our friends, and to know that they were with us by day and by night; they are ministering spirits that wait upon the heirs of salvation.

Oh! it would have been a great thing, when Jesus was upon earth, to have walked beside him! I should like to have gone with him as he went through the grain fields, and plucked the ears of corn and did eat; to have sat down with him at the well of Samaria, and waited while he had water to drink. I should have been glad if I could have been by his side when he stopped by yon city-gate to heal a blind man; and, oh! how I would like to have seen the light sparkle for the first time in the eyes of that blind man, and to have beheld the rapture that thrilled his soul when he looked out upon the earth! How I should like to have been with him, when, at the grave of Lazarus, he uttered those words, "Lazarus, come forth," and the dead man came to life!

And yet, as high as that, as glorious as that, is our privilege, for a man may walk with God. Enoch walked with God. Nor was that walk for a moment merely. It is not said that he walked with God for a moment or two, or an hour or two, of his life. We might fancy, possibly, that he walked with God a few moments before his death, or on some hallowed occasion; but the Scriptures seem to teach us that it was the habit of his life to walk with God. His life was no short one; for, although it was one of the briefest among those old patriarchs, he lived just as many years as there are days in the year; three hundred and sixty-five years Enoch lived; and he walked with God, and was not, for God took him. How long that pilgrimage, how many those journeyings, how sweet those associations, how singular those emotions he must have enjoyed, when he walked with God!

But it may be asked: "Can one walk with God amid the busy associations of life?" Enoch was not alone. A family grew around him. He had sons and daughters, for it is said he was a father; he lived three hundred years, and he walked with God through those centuries. The heavens were above him, and the earth at his feet; God was his companion. In the cares of his family, in the discharge of his duties, he had the same necessities, doubtless, that we have, the same sorrows; he had the same human heart, the same passions, the same temptations, the same trials, the same conflicts that we have, and yet he walked with God. And if a man can walk with God, ought you and I may walk with him!

This is the first lesson he teaches us, that it is possible for man to walk with God. But how is this brought about? In the first place, the word Enoch in the original signifies to be trained, to be educated, or instructed. It is precisely the same word that is used in the passage, "Train up a child in the way he should go;" and Enoch's name was probably given him from the care with which he was trained. He received instruction—received it with an honest heart. At the basis of all success in life lie knowledge, education, training. If a man attempts to be a merchant, he must have an education, must be trained for it. If a man is to be a manufacturer, he must be trained for it. If a man is to be a mechanic, he must learn his art. If he is to be a professional man, he must have a preparation for it. There is no pathway in life

in which a man can walk successfully without training; for though a man disciplined to business may sometimes change his occupation, it is by careful study, examination, learning the relation of things, that he becomes qualified for his business. And so if we would walk in life's pathway successfully, and triumph over difficulties, we must be educated or trained for it. We must learn our nature; "know thyself" lies at the foundation of great success. A man must study himself, and no man can succeed who does not examine thoroughly his own temperament and disposition.

But the expression, "walked with God," here has a peculiar signification, critics tell us. It signifies, set himself purposely to walk with God, determined to walk with God, indicating, as the next lesson, decision, purpose. It was a resolution formed upon the part of Enoch that he would walk with God. Having been instructed that it was his duty to walk with God, having understood how he might walk with God, he set himself to walk with God. It was his firm purpose. There are many who have indefinite wishes; they intend to be better than they have been, and yet have no fixed purpose or decision of character. To-day they determine to be better, and to-morrow yield to temptation; to-day they are in the house of God, and they resolve that they will be Christians, and to-morrow, going out into company, they fall into every evil way, they are led captive by the enemy at his will. And why? They have no firmness of character, no decision of purpose; they have not said to themselves, "I will conquer my besetments, I will triumph, no matter what difficulties be in my way." Now, we ought to determine what is right, and then to go forward at all hazards.

Are you a father, the head of a family? You are to say, "Others may do as they will, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord." No matter whether there be an altar of prayer in any other family on the face of the earth, you are to set up an altar, to gather your family around it. Oh, how sweet to offer your incense and let it rise with fragrance, were there no other altar on this earth! That is decision of character.

Are you a young man, and have you wicked associates? Then you are to say: "God helping me, I will be a Christian. Others may be profane, the oath shall never pass my lips; others may be fraudulent, the wrong shall never be done by me; others may waste their moments, I will redeem the time, because it is precious; others may trifle away their energies, I am born for something higher; I am traveling to a holier land. Company I love on earth, but oh! the company of the redeemed, of the blood-washed, of angels, and of God, is higher than these companionships of earth! I will seek that."

Are you a young lady, walking in the beauty of youth and loveliness? It is lovelier to be a Christian than to be any other character on the face of the earth; to be at the foot of the cross, drawing from that cross its fragrance and power, looking up to heaven and having companionship with the Beloved, and having purity and love and beauty and heaven all around you. And this decision of character, this firm purpose that you will walk with God, that you will set yourself to this, no matter what may come, is the second step in the furnishing of true character. If you can be drawn aside, there are many who will draw you aside. If you may be tempted, there are tempters all around you. If you are ready to go astray, there will be some one to allure you. Only in perfect firmness and decision is there any safety whatever. *

But now that I have drawn these outlines of Enoch's character, let us make a little comparison, if we can, between him and ourselves, to see whether there may be this walking with God on our part, whether we have the same facilities of life. I have noticed the instructions of Enoch. Have we the same facilities of instruction he had? Now there are some that he had which we cannot have. I have sometimes fancied I saw him when a boy. Adam had not yet left the earth; he was a little over six hundred years old when Enoch was born, and lived more than three hundred years after. I have thought that very probably the aged Adam used to take little Enoch by the hand and walk with him. Enoch was anxious to learn, and when a child is anxious to learn and listen, age loves to talk with childhood; and Enoch seeking for training, ready to be instructed, oh! what lessons did Adam give! Methinks he told him of how the earth looked when he first opened his eyes, of Eden in all its glory; how the heavens beamed in brightness and the flowers sent forth their sweet perfume; how the birds sang beautiful melodies, and the angels came down to walk in the garden, and God himself was there. Methinks he told Enoch the whole story—how God gave him Eve, and her beauty and loveliness; then of the fall, and his sorrow, and his turning away from Eden, and the cherubim that guarded the gate that man might never enter there; and then the promise of a Saviour; and then about Abel and Cain. And what a host of questions would young Enoch ask! Then, too, all the inventors of earth were there, and Enoch could talk with them. And yet with all the opportunities Enoch had—and they were great—how much greater are ours! Had he the story of the creation and of the fall? We have it. Had he a knowledge of science and its conquests? We have it all he had, and for six thousand years the world has been moving on in its triumph of mind over matter; materials have been gathered, and we can learn as Enoch never could, because there are materials on which he could not lay his hand. Did angels walk on earth? We have the record. Did he trust in a Saviour to come? The Saviour has come.

Standing where we do, we have the lessons Enoch had, the lessons Moses had; we have listened to the thoughts that made a David tune his harp, have visions that fired the imagination of Ezekiel and Daniel, have the teaching of Jesus when on earth, and oh! the songs that have been rolling, that angels started from heaven, rolling on to fill this earth! Had he instruction? We have much more. And if because he was instructed he was able to walk with God, we stand on higher ground and ought to be able to walk with him.

We may not have that same firmness of purpose he had, and I fear many of us fail just here. You, as well as I, may have set out in early youth to be religious; but oh! how often we have been turned aside! how frequently have we erred! what sad mistakes have we made, and how often have we lost our firmness of purpose! It seems to me there is a ladder, like that which Jacob saw set up from earth to heaven, and while Enoch would have been away up yonder on those higher rounds, almost ready to pass into the invisible, we linger yet on the lower rounds of the ladder, having not ascended, having traveled a little step up and then a step down, a little step up and then a step down; and there are some of us, I am afraid, to-day, no higher in our ascent toward glory than we were twenty years ago, when all Heaven has been inviting, and all possible helps have been given us.

My dear brother, to-day, in the sight of God, are you better than you were twenty years ago? Are you more like Jesus than you were twenty years ago? Have you more of the enjoyments of religion? Is the image of Christ more perfectly stamped on your heart than it was twenty years ago? What have you been living for? God has graciously spared you, and given you his word and spirit and all needful helps, and yet no better all the twenty years! Oh! how sad it is for us!

But if we are to walk with God, there are a few things requisite. In the first place, we must go nowhere that Christ will not go. Oh! how many venture beyond the territory in which they ought to walk, and they wonder why they have not the enjoyments of religion. They go where Jesus will not go. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly." Christ is not there. "Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." Christ is not there. "Nor standeth in the way of sinners." Christ is not there.

If you would walk with Christ, keep out of all evil company, of all evil associations, keep from all evil places—from every place where you cannot go in the spirit of Christ, and that, if upon earth, you might not expect to meet him there. If you go out of the territory where he would go, you need not expect to find him.

And now, my dear friends, oh! how my soul yearns that some of you may begin a higher life—begin it to-day. Young people, aim at a higher life than ever you have done—this glorious life, this walking with God. Christians of age, you know something of the sweetness of it; cultivate it more; have more of the spirit of the Master, more love to the Saviour; give yourselves to working for his cause in a way you have never done before. What if difficulties are in the way? Omnipotence can carry you safely over. What if there are clouds? There is a light beyond the clouds. What if enemies combine? He who is for us is more than all those who are against us. Mothers, set about it to-day; teach your children more of Jesus. Fathers, set about it to-day; let your sons see you are more like Jesus. Men of position, consecrate yourselves to Christ, and let the world see that you are living as seeing Him who is invisible.—From a Sermon by Bishop Simpson in the Methodist.