Faith Walks With God

“By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God” (Hebrews 11:5).

Genesis gives this brief summary of Enoch’s life: “So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:23-24).

Various translations describe Enoch as being “trans­lated,” “changed,” “taken up,” or “taken away.” He was received into glory without experiencing death. This was an exceptional privilege indeed. Enoch’s faith allowed him to avoid the corruption of the grave. The only other people to be “taken up” were the prophet Elijah (2 Kings 2) and the resurrected Jesus Christ (Acts 1:9-10). This is also the promise to those Christians who are alive at Christ’s return (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

But as with Enoch, that experience is reserved for those who walk with God. We are not to conclude that Enoch was sinless, but that his life was consistently godly. And so it should be with us. The New Testament epistles are filled with admonitions for Christians to “walk” with God as Enoch did. Jesus’ disciples “do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Sprit” (Romans 8:1,4). We are to walk in good works, in a manner worthy of our calling as Christians (Ephesians 2:10; 4:1). We are to walk after the teaching and exam­ple of Christ (1 John 2:6; 2 John 6) and His apostles (Philippians 3:16-17; 1 Thessalonians 4:1).

Faith follows God’s instructions, even in the small things. Even when it can’t see where it’s going or why, it holds God’s hand and lets Him lead. “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).