Walking with God

(March 26, 2007)

Genesis 17 begins with God appearing to 99-year-old Abraham, reaffirming the covenant, and saying, “Walk before me, and be blameless”. This may be the most significant key to the Abraham Parallax. Whatever else Abraham may have done for good or bad, he had a lifetime desire to “walk with God”. From the time he left his home in Ur to the day he died, Abraham was on a sojourn with God. With every step he took along that journey, God blessed Abraham.

Two of Abraham’s ancestors had walked with God. Enoch “walked with God, and was not, because God took him!” Many interpret that passage to mean Enoch was such a close friend of God that Enoch did not go through death. He was so close to God all he needed to do was to take one final step into heaven. Noah walked with God and separated himself from his wicked generation. Remember the un-expecting Emmaus Road disciples who walked for many “heart-warming miles” with the resurrected Jesus. Now imagine a lifetime of Emmaus walks with God.

Walking with God as Abraham did was the natural result of a deep friendship. Bruce Feiler calls it becoming “the friend of God”. Before we enter the Parallax, we too must enter into a moment-by-moment friendship with God. That is what He desires, and what we absolutely need!

The injunctive to “be blameless” does not mean one must be morally perfect. Rather it means, as Dr. Clyde Francisco said, to be “pure in our motives”.

There is a verse at the end of Genesis (easy to overlook) that places the crown on this aspect of the Parallax. Genesis 48:15 in the Amplified Version says (loosely translated) God blessed Joseph because his grandfather Abraham had the “habit” of continually “walking before God”.

Rarely does a message come across so clearly as this. To experience the blessings of God, we must have the constant desire to fellowship [walk] with God, and make it such a habit that we are continually in God’s presence, friendship and blessings.

From the Quote Garden
“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.”
~ Soren Kierkegaard

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