Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him.
– Genesis 5:24
What an incredible verse. One of my favorite verses in all the Old Testament. This is the summary of Enoch’s life. He walked with God. That’s it. That’s the summary of his whole life in the world, he walked with God.
Genesis 5:24 challenges us to imitate Enoch.
Don’t you want that to be the summary of your life? What an amazing life. He walked with God every day. He walked with God. Enoch got up in the morning and he walked with God all day long, went to bed and got up the next day and he walked with God some more. Yes, yes, may that be your life, my life, and this is the beauty of what Jesus has made possible for us in a greater way than even Enoch experienced, because we have the Spirit of God with us in a way that Enoch did not have.
We have commands in the New Testament to walk in step with the Spirit of God. Think about it this way. What if Jesus was physically right next to you today? What would that be like to go with Jesus right with you all throughout your day? That would be amazing to walk with Jesus today, and tomorrow, the next day.
Just think about how our lives would look different, how our lives would change in so many ways as we walk with Jesus and now realize, wait a minute, yes, Jesus is not physically with us, but that’s the beauty of what Jesus said to us after he died on the cross, rose from the dead, ascended in the Heaven, he said, “I’m going to send my Spirit to live in you,” John 14, “It’s going to be better than me beside you, I’m going to be inside you.” You and I have the pure privilege and honor of walking with God today with the Spirit of Jesus leading us, guiding us, directing us from the inside out.
Genesis 5:24 is an image of what the Christian life is meant to be.
This is amazing. This is the Christian life. Let’s live it to the full today. Oh God, we praise you for Enoch. We praise you for his example. Lord, we praise you for the way he walked with you, talked with you, listened to you. We just imagine what it was like for Enoch to walk with you.
And we praise you, Jesus, for making something even greater possible for every one of us, not just for a select few like Enoch, that every one of us today has the privilege, oh God, of walking with you, talking with you all day long, listening to you all day long, you leading us all day long, you directing us, you empowering us, you giving us boldness to be able to witness, you giving us strength when we face challenges, you giving us strength when we face temptation, the ability to turn from it.
Oh God, help us to walk with you all day long today. We pray just over today that at the end of today. Or if we’re praying this at night, over the end of tomorrow, that this would be the commentary on our day, that walk with God. Oh God, may it be so. And we pray that you would lead us, guide us, direct us, shape us, mold us, do everything you desire in us, through us, as we trust you are life for us.
Prayer for the Uregu Berber People
Oh God, as we pray for unreached people. Specifically today, for the Uregu Berber people of Morocco, 77,000 of them. And all these other unreached people groups… Like the Uregu Berber, who don’t know the good news of your love for them. God, as we walk with you today, please help us to follow you in every way you might lead us for the spread of your glory among the nations.
Please help us to follow you with the use of our resources, please help us to follow you to make disciples the nations right around us today, with you. And God, we pray that you’d help us to follow you, and specifically you would raise up labors for the harvest field among the Uregu Berber to follow you, to reach them with the gospel. God, we pray that we, or our brothers and sisters around the world together, you would help us to get the gospel to them and thousands of people groups like them, help us to follow you wherever, however, you lead us, as we walk with you, until all the nations know that you are God, until all the nations are able to walk with you. We pray this in Jesus’ name, according to your Word in Genesis 5:24. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
