Enoch-He walked with God

Every Wednesday we (me and my brood of children) go to BSF at Lincroft church, along with several hundred other NJ moms, and women who are seeking to grow closer to the Lord in Bible study.

This year our study is in the book of Genesis.  What I love about BSF is there is no workbook or devotional.  All you need is your Bible, a pen/pencil, and some paper and an open heart.  We go verse by verse, and chapter by chapter and the next semester is the next book of the Bible.

I started last year as they finished up all of the Acts of the Apostles.  But this September starting in the beginning with Genesis has been AWESOME.  It's been so deep and so good, I really don't know how to blog about it with you!!!  I've been learning so much so fast, and so have my kids.  And God keeps tying in our Awana lessons somehow too, it's been great.

Anyway, my house is completely silent because it's nap time, and I did laundry and cleaned up after lunch so I decided to start my BSF homework and review since we are having leftover stew for dinner tonight.  Seriously, my house is so quiet I know I will not like empty nest hood at all.  I will just have to keep on having babies to hear their wonderful sounds and voices!

As I was rereading our notes I came across a verse in Zephaniah 3:17 that I loved...I think I even want to write part of it on our nursery wall for the baby, it's the nicest sweetest verse ever and it talks about how much God loves a relationship with us...just like how Enoch was so faithful at age 65 to commit the next 300 years of his life to walking with God daily...so much so that he has never died...God just took him on a continuous walk with Him straight to heaven....

Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God in Your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.

Isn't that just like a Father or a Mother?  We love our children so much we just want to rejoice over them, quiet them with our love when they get hurt, and rejoice over their gifts/personalities with singing.  It's nothing they have done to deserve it we just LOVE them to pieces.  God is just like that if not even more so and in a more perfect way with us.  He wants us to walk with Him in this life.  He wants a relationship with us.  He wants to cheer us up when we are down, pick us up when we are discouraged or fall, and just praise us when we do even the smallest of things.

Enoch lived in such a time when no one was walking with God.  No one was following him.  But Enoch (his name means dedicated or initiated) was a light in a dark world.  He became the father of Methuselah (oldest man in the bible who lived to be 969) at age 65 and once he became a father he realized his need for God and began seeking after God.  Lots of us draw near to God after a big time of change because we realize how small we are and how much we need Him.  I know after I became a parent I definitely had more of an urgency for God and a need to want to do what was right for my daughter and my family.

Enoch is my new favorite person in the Bible (I love when this happens) because even though he lived in this depressing and dark time in history when there was wickedness all around he wanted more from his family and his life and because he sought after God and walked with God he was richly blessed.  He had this inspiring relationship with God that showed who was the most important person in his life.  He wasn't consumed by keeping up with the joneses or fancy scholarly degrees, or a nice wardrobe, he was concerned with what was important.  It was God.  God first.  God was His walking partner, His accountability partner, His confidant, his friend, his director, his guide, his all in all.  He told God his prayers his concerns his dreams his wishes, and their relationship grew.  Enoch's trust and faith grew in God by this faithful walk.

I want to be like that!

I want to honor God with a faithful walk that shows God that I am his that nothing else is more important.  I don't want to cling to my loneliness or problems and struggles, I want to share them with God so that I can find joy in him and rejoice in his love for me...me!  Little old me who doesn't deserve it, but it's a free gift to all of us.  And the best thing about it is God is always there waiting for us, wanting this from us.  He's always treasuring our time together.  All we have to do, all I have to do is allow Him to comfort me.  Hand it all over to him, grab his hand and walk with Him.

Enoch continued to walk with and love God without interruption.  Because one day God just took him to heaven to be with Him.  Enoch never tasted death, he never died.  How cool is that?

Nothing is more important than a life lived with God, walking with Him, day by day, side by side, having uninterrupted fellowship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  How lucky are we that we can have that and all we have to do is put our walking shoes on and get moving!

I want a life like Enoch.  A life that is remembered because of God.  In Proverbs 10: 7 it says, "The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.

God is the only one who can make us righteous.  He's the only one who gives us a life worth meaning.  Nothing, nothing else matters.  Not our bank accounts, not the car we drive, our college degrees, our awards or successes.  A life that is blessed and has meaning is a life that is dedicated to the Lord.  It really puts things into perspective for me.