** And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: ** Genesis 3:9
Many years ago, I attended a conference on walking with God. Day after day they talked about it. About half way through the conference, I stepped away and prayed ‘Lord, I have no idea what they are talking about. I go to church all the time. I read my Bible. I pray, but, I don’t know why what they are saying is different than what I do and what I know. So, if I need to know this, teach me. Help me to understand.’
And He did.
** And Enoch walked with God ** Gen 5:22
If we read this short account of Enoch and God, we see that for 300 years, Enoch faithfully walked with the Lord. There was constancy, day after day, one step at a time. Each day Enoch learned a little more about the Lord. Each day he took the time to listen and absorb what the Lord wanted him to know.
The Old Testament also tells us that **Noah walked with God.** Gen. 6:9 That makes sense, doesn’t it? I mean, build an ark? Bring in all the animals? Rain? What is rain? I imagine Noah had a lot of questions. I imagine he and God spent a lot of time together discussing things. By the time God shut him and his family and the animals in the ark, Noah had learned to trust God more than ever.
Noah took time to meditate, to listen, to consider, to think through the things that the Lord had asked of him. While he sawed and hammered, he must have had doubts and fears. But, I imagine that he talked them all out with the Lord and had peace by the time God sent the rain.
Walking with God is a slow, meaningful activity. It is being silent, and allowing the Lord to speak. It is taking the time to understand. It is patiently putting the pieces together in a challenging puzzle. It is walking in faith when we have only partial understanding, trusting that the Lord will reveal the finished puzzle in His time.
Walking with the Lord is a slow, meandering process. It is trusting Him with our day-to-day. It is trusting Him on the dark paths, drawing closer to Him and leaning on His arm so as not to stumble.
For some reason, walking with someone is different than a conversation over coffee. It is more intimate. It is more meaningful. It opens the heart more. It gives us a sense of peace and safety. There is a feeling of trust and openness and sincerity. We are more transparent.
God loves transparency. He wants us to be open with Him, allowing ourselves to be vulnerable. He wants us to show him our most hidden places in our hearts so He can transform them and so that we can see how much we need Him.
Walking with the Lord is about inviting Him to share every moment. Every thought, every celebration, every pain. It is giving Him every doubt, fear, thought, question, and heartache. It is trusting Him to work through each of them and accepting that His answer is better than ours.
It is taking the time to look fully in the face of God and be completely vulnerable with Him. It is complete trust. It is letting Him know us like no one else knows us. It is getting to know Him in a way that not everyone knows Him. It is understanding each other.
Walking with God, not running with Him, is accepting the slow, transforming process of the Holy Spirit. It is allowing Him to do things in His time and not ours. It is letting Him be in charge.
** The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. ** Psalm 10:4
What is walking with Lord? It is keeping Him in all our thoughts. It is forsaking pride and self-sufficiency.
It is …
** Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? It is leaning. Leaning hard into God every day. It is depending on His strength, wisdom and presence for everything.
Walking with the Lord is available to any of us. He is there waiting to walk with each of us, just like He did in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, like He did with Noah, Enoch and Abraham.
Walking with the Lord is not about a destiny, it is about companionship.
** And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:… **Gen 3:8
If we want to learn how to walk with the Lord, all we have to do is ask. And then wait. He will be there to walk with us.
** Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it. ** Song of Solomon 8:3
We just have to listen for His voice.