Walking with God

By Ron. v. Leerdam

Brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ,
God has created a wonderful world and human beings are most wonderfully made.
We are created in God’s image.
From the beginning we are made to walk with God. The relationship Adam and Eve enjoyed with God at first was perfect – love, joy, peace, harmony, truth and
honesty governed their walk with God. Sin and its curse destroyed the relationship God desires us to enjoy with our creator and maker. Though the inclination of the human heart is inclined toward evil, God graciously calls people to seek Him with all their heart and walk with Him. Enoch is one of two people recorded in Scripture who did not die. He was the seventh generation through the line of Seth. He exemplified one who honoured God. He revered the one true living creator of the heavens, the earth and all things. Enoch enjoyed the closest personal communion with God, walking as it were by God’s side.

On the other hand, ungodliness culminated in Lamech, the seventh from Adam through Cain, who made his sword his god. Enoch, like Elijah, was taken away by God, and carried into the heavenly paradise, so that he did not experience death.
“By faith Enoch was taken from this life so 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.
And without faith it is impossible to please God,
because anyone who comes to him must believe that
he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:5,6

This demonstrates that God is not bound.
Our God does whatever he pleases.
It was his sovereign pleasure to exempt Enoch and Elijah from the law of death and returning to the dust, just as those who are alive at Christ’s second coming will not taste death but as Paul wrote,
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep,
but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we will be changed… The sting
of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God!
He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:51,52,56,57.

So it is clear my friends, that sinners are redeemed by faith alone in the promise of the living God. Enoch and Elijah did see Christ, for he came only ‘in the fullness of time’, yet already with the sin of Adam and Eve and the pronouncement of the curse
“Cursed is the ground because of you… By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” God also gave the promise of deliverance from the
curse, to Satan God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will bruise his heel.” Genesis 3. In your leisure read the whole chapter here.

The one who would crush Satan’s head and so deliver those whom God has chosen to save is no other than the only Son of the Living God, the one who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
crucified, dead and buried. Jesus suffered and died for sinners rising from the
grave the victor over Satan, sin and death.
Those who put their faith in Him have the assurance that though they die, yet they will live with Him forever. Christ calls all his followers to Walk with Him.

What does it look like ‘in real life’ to walk with God in a world where the burden of sins curse must be endured? Time does not stand still even for one second.
Solomon looking back over life says,
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 x 7 lots of times, contrasting with each other.
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time for war and a time for peace.
These words strike many chords in our minds.
Benjamin Netenyah quoted these words of
Scripture, ‘A time for war and a time for peace’,
with reference to the situation in Israel today.

Making sense of life while living in a world filled with contradictions is not an easy thing. When you are feeling overwhelmed by your circumstances – think about this – the greatest contradiction.
God who is eternal enters into His broken world – Jesus Christ is born of flesh and blood – like us in every way except for sin. He lives, He works and ministers the Gospel and dies cursed by Father God on the cross of Calvary in the place of sinners in order that the justice of God might be satisfied and sin atoned for.
Through his sacrifice sinners are reconciled to God.
The grave could not hold Him and He has ascended to the right hand of God so that all who call on Him might also have life in His Name. Even though we struggle with the contradictions, God gives good gifts again and again.
We remember the joy and happiness of embracing a new born son or daughter, grandson or grand daughter, for some a great grand child.
Yet the message of these verses is: There is nothing that is permanent this side of heaven. A profound sense of frustration rises as we recognise this reality – nothing stays the same, everything passes away. Sooner or later, that which was beautiful dies and decays – it is no more. A profound sense of loss and frustration rises inside us, because ‘God has placed eternity in our hearts.’ Where do we look for that which is lasting?

What makes life meaningful, what is life’s purpose, what makes living worthwhile?

Christians are comforted in times of change or loss by the Good News of Him whose Word stands forever – He says, “I do not change.”
“I am the same yesterday, today and forever.”
“I am He who was and is and ever will be.”
This person is the God of Abraham, Isaac & Israel.
In all of life we only find true meaning and purpose if we know the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him alone is there light, life, joy, peace and meaning in this earthly journey.
Solomon expresses this thought when he says,
“Vanity or Meaninglessness, all is vanity unless you remember your creator.
The conclusion of the matter is this:
“Fear God and keep His commandments, for
this is the whole duty of man – or in the words
of the shorter catechism, the chief end of man
is to enjoy God and glorify Him forever.”
Jesus calls you and me to ‘walk with God by faith.’ The more we love, the greater the pain of loss and decay and the more the passing of loved ones and God’s good gifts afflicts us. Yes, the burden God places on us can be extremely heavy at times. But the great news is that God has not left us to carry our burden alone.
Jesus invites us,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and
burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Jesus has come to satisfy our thirst for eternity.
He has come to reconcile us to our Maker.
He has come that we may find meaning in life.
Life is not a cruel joke where all is meaningless.
In Christ we find the yoke that we were created to carry.
Jesus has come so that we might not find God’s command a burden and wearisome. Keeping the law is not the way to attain salvation.
Rather, it is the way of showing thankfulness to our Redeemer, this we do in prayer.
“I know there is nothing better for men to be happy and do good while they live.
That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil – this is the gift of God. I know that everything that God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere Him.”

God’s gracious gift of eternal life for all who believe in His One and Only Son is true steadfast, and no-one can snatch them out of the Fathers hand.
Keeping God’s law is an act of thankfulness.
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all
your soul, and all your mind and all your strength
and love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Passing on the baton of FAITH is vital.
The whole of creation was subjected to frustration because of mans sin.
Yet like a woman in labor it is waiting for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed. We also are groaning inwardly as we wait eagerly and patiently for the redemption of our bodies.
“This calls for patient endurance on the part of the
saints who obey God’s commandments and remain
faithful to Jesus. I heard a voice from heaven say,
“Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord
from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest
from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”
Rev. 14:12-13

How we need patient endurance and the grace of God to remain faithful to Jesus.
We experience the ups and downs of life.
We do need to work through our feelings. Acknowledge them, recognise the cause and then submit the way we are feeling to the word of God.
The Psalms can be really helpful.
“Why are you so downcast O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
For I will yet praise Him,
My saviour and my God. Psalm 42
May God give us opportunities to say to those who don’t know Jesus, listen, God has been good to me! He has given me eternal life.
Our hope is assured by faith in the risen Christ.
This is the faith that the saints of old were commended for in Hebrews 11.
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
They received the assurance of life after the grave.
They believed that there was a heavenly country.
They believed that Almighty God was preparing a city for them. It was this faith that enabled them to suffer all sorts of trials and affliction. This is the faith we are called to pass on. It was this hope that enabled them to persevere.
They could face death and persecution with the
certain hope that it was not the end.
Why was this? Because they fixed their eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Oh that the grace of God in Christ would flow through us reaching more and more people. Oh may more and more thanksgiving overflow to the glory of God. God knows what He is doing.
He knows we are but earthen pots.
He knows there is a time for everything.
We believe nothing happens by chance or accident.
The experiences of life – all experiences have their purpose under the sovereign hand of our heavenly Father.
In the Lord’s prayer we pray, ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done.’ Lord help us to trust you always in everything. Help us to fix our eyes on that with is unseen – that which is eternal.
In the mean time, “what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

Amen.