Enoch walked With God…until

I like equating prayer with walking because it’s an ongoing action that’s rhythmic and progressive. And it’s something I can do easily and without help or props, even when I don’t feel like it. I can choose to move when nothing in me agrees.The prayer-walking biblical character who speaks volumes to me, although not so much in the bible, is Enoch. This is one of the shortest pieces in the bible.

Enoch was an ancestor of Noah, the son of Baraka and Jared. He was the father of Methuselah and Barakil.

While Enoch is the subject of many other writings, the bible simply records:

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]

Not much to that story, but I love it.

Enoch walked with God and he was not. I’m telling you, this is a preacher’s delight. Just enough of a sermon tease to allow for Holy Ghost interpretation. I’ve written lessons and sermons on these tiny verses.

My take is that every day, Enoch walked with God. And he talked a lot and he listened a little.

And the next day, Enoch walked with God. And he talked a lot and he listened a little.

And the next day, Enoch walked with God. And he talked a lot and he listened a little.

And as the days progressed, as the years grew longer, Enoch walked with God and Enoch talked less and listened more. And less and less he talked. And more and more he listened.

And the family members began to say, “Do you think Enoch is acting strangely? He’s so quiet most of the time. He doesn’t argue like he used to. He doesn’t cuss nearly as much. He even did me a favor the other day without my asking.”

And the village people began to ask, “Have you seen Enoch lately? I don’t see him as much as I used to. He used to come to the village gate and hang out with us men. But not so much lately. And the last time I saw him he seemed to have some kind of strange light on his face. I don’t know what it was. But he’s really different.”

And even Enoch himself began to realize that things that used to bug him, didn’t anymore. He realized that his temper had gotten so temperate that he hardly ever blew up anymore. He noticed that he longed for peace and quiet rather than the constant chatter of the children and grandchildren and great grand children of his family.

And every day Enoch would walk with God. And they became, as all friends eventually do, of one mind and one heart. Enoch finished God’s sentences. And most of the time they didn’t even have to talk because each one knew what the other was thinking.

It must have been a wonderful journey. It lasted 365 years – 365 years of walking and talking and walking and listening.

And every day Enoch would walk with God.

And one day, they looked at each other and decided their walking was complete, their talking was almost unnecessary and there was no real reason for them to part anymore.

And Enoch was not. God took him.

I could just jump into my testimony about how much I want this relationship and how much I want one day for God and myself to agree that there’s no longer a need for our separation of any kind. One day I want my people to look for me and understand that I have, in an instant, become absent from the body to be present forever with my Lord.

Keep walking in prayer until you can’t come back. Keep walking in prayer until you don’t want to come back. Keep walking in prayer until the Lord is all you can see.

Can somebody say, “Hallelujah??!!!!”