Enoch

  This lovely tropical pathway at Animal Kingdom in Florida seemed like a good photo to represent the path Enoch was on as he walked with God so long ago.  I imagine it as a beautiful place in the ancient world.

  In ancient times, when the earth was still young, a man named Enoch walked with God.  What do you think that looked like?  You might say he was living in a simpler time, so it was easier for him.  But - is a life on this ole sinful earth ever easy?  Plus, Enoch did not have written scriptures as we do, nor had the death and resurrection of Christ provided a way for the Holy Spirit to permanently indwell believers. 

   While Enoch lived a bit over 600 years before the great Flood, the times he was living in were probably already beginning to fray around the edges -- badly.  Remember, earlier in history, Cain had murdered his own brother and this was the legacy men were left to live with.  Then, hundreds of years before the flood, mankind started turning away from God and beginning the downward spiral of evil living that caused God to destroy the world of that day by the great Flood.

  Genesis 6:5 NIV reads:  "The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time..."  Yet, in the midst of this sort of time (a time that very much resembles our modern times), this man Enoch walked with God.  In fact, he was so close to God that at some point, when he was a mere 365 years old (at a time when people commonly lived around 900 years), God simply took him directly up to heaven - Genesis 5:24.  This is such a rare occurrence that the Bible only records one other man who never died -- that was the prophet Elijah.

   Here's what scripture says about Enoch in Hebrews 11:  "By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away.  For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.  And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him."

  So, to walk with God one must have faith in God and believe in and on Him, and must earnestly seek Him.  If we live in that spirit, the Bible says that we will please God -- and we will find ourselves on the path that is everlasting -- walking with God.