A Balanced Walk?

I've been pondering Enoch's walk with God. You remember him, right? Walked so tightly with God that one day God just allowed him to keep walking up through the gates. As I read it, Enoch had a fairly balanced walk. He spent time seeking God and then going out and sharing with those around him.

I’ve been told all of my life that I need to be out there sharing, out there witnessing; out there (wherever there is) doing something. Seldom have I been told that I need to balance the "out there" with the "in here". And I think that is a problem with many of us. We lack the balance of Enoch’s walk with God. A balance of seeking God and then sharing. Seeking God and then sharing. Seeking and Sharing. We end up on one end of the spectrum or the other.

Many of us are so busy with the business of the church and the busyness of the church that we have forgotten it’s purpose. Many of us are so busy with sharing that we rarely take time for in trospection and worship. Many of us get so caught up in working for the Lord that we seldom take time to know the Lord. We always have literature with us. We are ready in season and out of season. We know the texts and we want to share. As one retired pastor friend of mine put it, “We work for God like the devil.”


Or we are on the other end of the spectrum. Many of us continue to focus on getting ready for Jesus to come…focus inwardly…We focus so much on getting ready for His coming that we stay uptight and have a hard time winning anyone for the Lord, because we spend more time worrying about whether we are ready to go or not, or else we worry about whether we have done enough or whether we have enough knowledge. We work so hard at making sure we know all the right texts and having our theology straight, that we don’t see how warped we’ve really become. Knowledge and theology won’t save you. Only that relationship will. Knowledge about God is not the same thing as knowing God. Texts to defend a theology are not nearly as valuable as walking with God and doing His bidding. Knowing the truth is not as critical as living and breathing Jesus. And consequently the reason we have a hard time sharing with others, is because we have a hard time with our relationship with God. BTW, All of that thinking centers on what I can do…not what Jesus can do for and through me.

How do I get the balance of the Enoch walk? My focus ought to be on enjoying my relationship with Jesus right now and then simply doing what He asks of me today. Being where He places me and being faithful at those.

So maybe I can have a walk like Enoch’s. Maybe I can end up being translated. Being translated was not Enoch’s goal. Going to heaven was not Enoch’s goal. Enoch’s goal was to know God and to follow Him. Ellen White, in her book Patriarchs and Prophets, page 73 says: “For three centuries he (Enoch) had walked with God. Day by day he had longed for a closer union; nearer and nearer had grown the communion, until God took him to Himself.”

She goes on to say this. By the translation of Enoch the Lord designed to teach an important lesson. There was a danger that men would yield to discouragement, because of the fearful results of Adam’s sin. Many were ready to exclaim, “What profit is it that we have feared the Lord and have kept His ordinances, since a heavy curse is resting upon the race, and death is the portion of us all?” But the instructions which God gave to Adam, and which were repeated by Seth, and exemplified by Enoch, swept away the gloom and darkness, and gave hope to man, that as through Adam came death, so through the promised Redeemer would come life and immortality.”

So rather than growing discouraged by Enoch’s walk, I can gain hope, knowing that it just reiterates the promise that someday God is going to once again open the portal between heaven and earth, and take those who have been walking with Him. Once again, as He did with Enoch, He will come for those who desire Him.