As we grow older, it generally becomes easier to for us to imagine or anticipate our own death. The best way to face one’s death is to, moment by moment, walk with God. In fact, walking with God is the key to our happiness and confidence when facing death. It is a massive theme of Scripture.
If we learn to walk with God, we can be in God’s presence now in this life, and in the next moment, we (believers) can be in fellowship with God in Heaven. Our heart may skip a beat, but we will never skip a moment of fellowship with Him. As the Scripture says, “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. 14:7-8).
The believer’s walk of faith was often mentioned in Paul’s letters. In fact, Paul understood that God gave him the responsibility to model the believer’s walk of faith to First Century believers. At Philippians 3:17, Paul said, “Brothers and sisters, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.” Yes, walking by faith has a pattern that can be observed by others. And, as we have already discussed, we can fall away from the pattern and lifestyle of faith. We can become enemies of the cross of Christ (Phil. 3:17-19). Our appetites can become our gods, and our end can be destruction. But if so, we will miss out on many fantastic blessings in this life and the next. The stakes are high, and our responsibility is great. We must persevere in our walk of faith.
The reader is encouraged to do a Blue Letter Bible©[1] word search of the word “walk” for the purpose of exploring the theme of “walking with God.” We find one use of “walk” in the Genesis story of Abraham. When Abraham was ninety-nine years old, God told him, “Walk before Me, and be blameless” (Gen. 17:1). The Hebrew verb halak means “to walk.”[2] The Hebrew noun panim, means “before, or in the face of, or in the presence of.”[3] The literal act of walking with someone is used as a metaphor to teach us about functioning in fellowship with God. Imagine all of the times you have enjoyed a walk with a loved one or friend on the beach or in a park. Those times are often some of the most sublime and meaningful moments in our relationships with others.
The Hebrew verb haya means “to be or become.”[4] We “be or become” blameless (tamim) before God by walking in fellowship with God. As long as we are in our present bodies of weakness, we will never be sinless, but we can be blameless. Occasionally, we will all stumble and make mistakes. However, if we commit a sin, we must simply acknowledge or confess our sin to God, and thereafter, we will be restored to fellowship with God (1 John 1:9). Our goal should be to spend the maximum amount of our time in fellowship with God. Yes, from time to time, God judges us or disciplines us for our sin. But, more and more, our focus should be to simply live and pass our time in fellowship with Him. This is how we please God.
It is not surprising that God’s conversation with Abraham took place when Abraham was ninety-nine years of age. In our youth, we are often and easily distracted from our walk of faith. We are easily sidetracked by the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and pride of life (1 John 2:15-16). However, over time, like Abraham, we can become more consistent in our spiritual walk. As we look back over our lives, we can see that God’s discipline of us played an important role in teaching us to less and less break fellowship with Him. At ninety-nine years old, Abraham’s spiritual life began to reach an entirely new level. The spiritual life requires our perseverance.
At Genesis 5:19-24, we learned about an Old Testament Hero of Faith named Enoch. Enoch was singled out as someone who walked with God. In fact, it was noted that Enoch never died. Instead, one day he just disappeared because God took him. The text used the Hebrew verb laqah, which means “to take, to fetch, to lay hold of, or to seize.”[5] This same idea is emphasized in the New Testament Book of Hebrews. At Hebrews 11:5, we read, “By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for before he was taken up, he was attested to have been pleasing to God.”
Please notice that God blessed Enoch in a special way because Enoch pleased God. Enoch pleased God by walking with God. Enoch made a seamless transition from this life to the next. He lived in a moment-by-moment fellowship with God. In one moment, Enoch was in this life, and in the next moment, He was translated to the next life. True living is fellowship with God. If we understand this truth, we will have no fear of dying. We should just concentrate on pleasing God in each and every moment graciously given to us by God.
[2] “H1980 – hālaḵ – Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon (nasb20).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 3 Jan, 2023. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h1980/nasb20/wlc/0-1/>.
[3] “H6440 – pānîm – Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon (nasb20).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 3 Jan, 2023. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h6440/nasb20/wlc/0-1/>.
[4] “H1961 – hāyâ – Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon (nasb20).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 3 Jan, 2023. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h1961/nasb20/wlc/0-1/>.
[5] “H3947 – lāqaḥ – Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon (nasb20).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 3 Jan, 2023. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3947/nasb20/wlc/0-1/>.