What Does It Mean To Walk With God?

Last updated on: November 24, 2017 at 9:00 am by Jack Wellman

What Does It Mean To Walk With God? 2017-11-21T13:10:27-06:00 Jack Wellman

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Enoch walked with God and was no more, so what does it mean to walk with God?

Walking in Agreement

Amos the Prophet asked a very good question when he wrote, “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet” (Amos 3:3)? The obvious answer is no, they cannot walk together if they’re not in agreement with one another. It might be a disagreement over religion, a relationship, or a philosophy of life, but unless they can walk together, meaning unless they can agree on things, they cannot walk together. Shortly after the fall in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve “heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden” (Gen 3:8), but instead of joining God, they hid from God because they had sinned. Originally, God walked with them in fellowship and in relationship, but once they choose to disobey God, they could no longer walk in agreement with God because of their sin. Not long after this, mankind had been fruitful and multiplied over the face of the earth, but mankind in general had turned away from God and “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen 6:5), and “the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth” (Gen 6:11-12), but there was one exception as “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God” (Gen 6:9), however God told Noah “I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die” (Gen 6:17). Noah and his family walked with God and so they survived the flood, but the rest of mankind was not in agreement, except for the fact “that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen 6:5).

Enoch Walked with God

Enoch walked with God. This means, Enoch didn’t walk ahead of Him and he didn’t walk behind Him…but He walked with God. What does it mean to walk with God? I believe it means that we don’t get ahead of what God has in store for us or His will for our lives and we don’t take steps according to our own will but get in step with God’s will. It also means we obey the Lord. We can’t hear what God may be telling us if we’re way out ahead of His will or we’re out of fellowship with Him. We can’t walk with God if we’re not doing what He commands and fall behind His prescribed will for our lives. When this happens, we’re going to stumble. We know that God opens doors that no one can open and closes doors that are not good for us to walk through, so if we are walking with God, we’ll go through the door with Him, and at the same time. We’ll walk where He walks and go where He goes, but it also means, we don’t’ go where we know God doesn’t want us to go, so we can’t walk ahead of Him because He might not have the door open when we get there, or if we lag behind, the door may already be shut by the time we get there.

Follow Me

Jesus frequently told those He called to “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt 4:19). Many said they were His disciples, but when Jesus’ teachings were difficult to accept, “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66). Following Jesus is more than just walking in agreement with Him. For example, He says, “whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Matt 10:38), so “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt 16:24). Following Jesus is a lifetime commitment and He requires 100% of us. In one case someone said they’d follow Jesus, but, “said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father” (Luke 9:59), and “Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home” (Luke 9:61). They said they believed in Jesus, but so do the demons, but they’re by no means saved (James 2:19). You must follow Jesus and when you do, you can know that you’re walking with God.

Walking in Obedience

If we walk behind God, we are still not following His will for our lives. We may be lagging behind and not going where He is going and where He intends for us to go. We may miss where He wants us to go, and if He has opened a door for us, it might not be open when we finally get to it, but most of all, walking with God means to be walking along side of God by doing the things He commands (e.g. Matt 25:34-40; Matt 28:18-20). When we walk with God we can more easily talk with God, and walking beside God helps to ensure we will be walking in the right direction, and at the right pace…not too fast or not too slow. It’s better to be in step with God than out of step. Besides, you can’t talk with someone behind you or talk with someone ahead of you, but if you’re walking with someone, you can communicate with that someone. I can’t imagine taking a walk with my wife and being behind her or ahead of her. When we walk together, it shows that we are in agreement with each other. Perhaps that explains why “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away” (Gen 5:24).

Conclusion

Walking with God means that we “do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom 8:4), and that frequently we must walk by “faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7b), so that’s why we’re warned, “be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise” (Eph 5:15). Paul urges us all to “join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us” (Phil 3:17), as it was “By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God” (Heb 11:5). May the same thing be true for you too.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is a writer at Christian Quotes and also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.

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