Walking with God

Published 6:48 am Friday, October 6, 2023

I am a walker and even though the last couple of years I have not had the stamina to walk as far or as fast, I still enjoy getting out walking. It is one of my times of prayer and reflection and I look forward to walking most every day. One of the things that someone who has had open heart surgery is urged to do is to begin walking right away to help regain strength. I felt like I was dragging around a lot of dead weight when I first started three weeks ago. Just a trip down the hall at the hospital was very tiring. But every day, I have continued to press though what I felt like, and increased the length of my walks as well as the number of them. As of this writing, (3 weeks out of surgery) I am walking a total of 3 miles in the course of my day! A two year old could walk faster than me, but just knowing that every day I am getting stronger encourages me to continue.

God Himself walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening. They enjoyed a time of fellowship and friendship that must have been amazing. Enoch walked so close to the LORD that one day he just kept walking until he “was not” (no longer in the earth’s realm) because “the Lord took him.” Walking with God, having those personal, intimate times of fellowship with Him, will strengthen your overall relationship with Him.

Isaiah 40:30-31 has been a favorite scripture of mine for many years. “Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.” The Lord spoke to me before surgery that He was going to teach me how to wait upon Him. I thought I had a general understanding of waiting and could put together a nice little teaching on what that means in the scriptures, but I sensed that the Lord was going to give me fresh understanding and insight. I am in that process now and hope to be able to share insights and understanding as He shows me.

The word “wait” means to hope, to anticipate, and to trust. The verses prior to verse 31 in Isaiah (verses 29-30) state: “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youth shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but …. Those who wait upon the Lord …” 1928 Webster’s dictionary expands the meaning of “wait.” “To stay or rest in expectation, to stop or remain in expectation; to stop or remain stationary, till the arrival of some person or event.” Waiting is therefore an active word, not passive as most of us have probably interpreted it.

Isaiah 64:4 states: “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.” Wait on Him for what? Psalm 27:13-14 says, “I remain confident of this, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Micah 7:7, “But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.”

Walking with God and waiting upon God are closely related. Psalm 37:7 says, “Rest (or be still before) in the Lord and wait patiently for Him, do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.” Psalm 130:5 says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope.” The next verse, 6, goes on to say, I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.” (yes it is repeated twice).

Lamentations 3:25-26 “The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

Can you imagine the anticipation of Adam and Eve before their fall? God, their Father and Creator was coming to visit with them! In biblical time the evening begins the 24 hour day. So God actually came to them at the beginning of their day. What do you suppose they talked about? How long did He stay?

Enoch had made a practice and cultivated a relationship with his creator God that became so dear to both of their hearts that he just took a step one day toward the eternal realm where he had been walking for over three hundred years and vanished from this realm called earth and time! What did they talk about? What were they talking about when he stepped through that thin veil called time and into eternity?

I was born again almost sixty years ago and have “walked” with God and “waited” upon the Lord but I have not even come close to what I believe Adam and Eve experienced (before their fall) and what Enoch had developed before “the Lord took him.” I have made different attempts through self-discipline, Bible study and purposeful waiting (probably without much understanding). Having a direct word from the Lord that He was going to teach me to wait stirs my heart with fresh anticipation! If there ever was a time where people are growing faint and weary, we are living in that time. Notice that it is the youth that are being focused upon. Those are the ones with more natural vim and vigor, who can usually outrun the children as well as the elderly. I am pondering these observations with a fresh anticipation that the Lord is going to give me some valuable keys that will help not only me, but perhaps many others.

I have already quoted Psalm 27:13-14 but let me make a further observation. The psalmist said that he was confident that he would see the goodness of the Lord (in the land of the living which I interpret as while alive in this body). Then he exhorts us to wait – and as we do we will be strong and take heart. I think we are living in days of uncertainty as far as knowing how some things that are happening now will affect us and our future. It is easy to become anxious – if you watch news or read about what is happening. If there ever was a time to cultivate that intimacy with the Lord, it is now. I can honestly say that I am not affected by most of what I read or hear (the negative stuff mostly). Rather, I am choosing to trust the Lord in the midst of uncertain times. I certainly do not have answers or solutions to most of what mankind has decided is “good” or “right.” But, I can say with confidence and assurance, God sees the bigger picture, He is sovereign and as I abide in Him, He will keep me in perfect peace because my mind is steadfast and I trust in Him (see Isaiah 26:3).