“And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” (Genesis 5:23-24)

In listing the genealogical record from Adam to Noah, Genesis chapter 5 highlights one man with a noteworthy epitaph. Verse 24 easily separates Enoch from his ancestors and his posterity alike, and memorializes him as one of the greatest men spoken of in the Bible; all because Enoch walked with God. And he was not. For God took him.

“By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” (Hebrews 11:5)

There is a song I’ve heard in a church service that says: “Walk with me, Lord. Walk with me.” I believe this song is an inverting of the example we have of Enoch, who walked with God. I think about Moses as he stood before the Lord on Mt. Sinai. When the Lord commanded him to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land (Exodus 33:1-3); Moses emphatically responded: “…If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence” (Exodus 33:15). Moses did not want to leave the Presence of the Lord.

In the pictures of Enoch and Moses, we see a desire for a special nearness to God, indicative of a position of fellowship. Rather than asking the Lord to follow them in the way they were going, these men wanted to follow His Leading. I believe we have the principle of cultivating an ideal relationship with the Lord as we walk with Him.

The Bible says that Enoch walked with God, “and he was not.” In order to walk with God and so cultivate the ideal relationship with Him, we must have the same witness as Enoch. We must come to the end of ourselves: that point at which we “are not,” and He absolutely “is.” For until we come to view ourselves as nothing, we cannot have the proper view of Him as everything; God must be preeminent.

Friend, today’s lesson presents to us the thrilling prospect of a closer, more intimate relationship with the Lord as we walk with Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ bids us: “…come, take up the cross, and follow me” (Mark 10:21). The Cross is where we find the Lord, and it is where our Journey begins. As Christ promises to lead us “… in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Psalms 23:3), how can we let Him pass us by? Why would we?