He Walked With God

February 17, 2009

Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

But Noah found favor with the LORD. Genesis 6:8

He enjoined them, "Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." They concluded among themselves that it was because they had no bread. When he became aware of this he said to them, "Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Mark 6:15-17

Piety

O LORD, have pity on us, for you we wait. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of trouble! Isaiah 33:2

Study

With whom have you taken a walk recently?

When we take a walk with someone, we share some special moments. Perhaps you watched the sun rise on the beach with your spouse. Perhaps you walked the dog with your grandchild. Perhaps you hiked a trail with your son’s Scout troop.

When we walk with someone, we say that nothing else in the world matters more than spending this time, these minutes, with you. It is a very intimate relationship. No words need pass between you and your companion. All that is required is spending time with them in the sample place doing the same thing. Together.

When people wanted to learn from the ancient philosophers, they walked with them. Aristotle taught his lessons while walking about the Lyceum in ancient Athens. Jesus taught his lessons while walking about Galilee and Jerusalem. When Jesus invited the disciples to follow him, they accepted it as an invitation to walk with him.

I have a friend who grew up Catholic. He went to church and we even attended retreats together in college. We were there when he and his wife were married more than 30 years ago. We also were there when he walked his daughter down the aisle last year.

This gentle man is committed to helping people. However, somewhere along the line, the sins of the institutional church turned him away from the Church. Today, he does not need to be with God in a church. When he wants to be with God, he puts on his Nike’s (when he isn’t running barefoot on the beach) and heads out for his form of “communion.”

In the tradition of Noah and Abraham and the disciples, God is looking for people like my friend who will walk with Him. God wants us to spend some quality time with Him. God wants us to walk in the same direction that He walks. God wants us to care for the protection of all that he has made.

God asks very little else of us.

But Noah found favor with the LORD. These are the descendants of Noah. Noah, a good man and blameless in that age, for he walked with God. Genesis 6:8-10

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said: "I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless. Genesis 17:1

You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

“Walk with me.” Think back to Noah and Abraham and Micah. The price of the covenant was simple…to walk humbly with God.

When Jesus cured the paralytic man, he commanded him to “Rise, pick up your mat, and walk.”

When Jesus raised the twelve-year-old girl from the dead, his command was “Arise” and the Gospel commented that she walked around.

When Jesus sent the disciples out on their mission, he told them only to take a walking stick and sandals, the essential tools for someone commanded to walk humbly with God.

When Jesus appeared after the resurrection, one of those first appearances was when he was teaching a pair on the walk to Emmaus.

So whether you are headed to Emmaus or Centerville, take a step in the right direction. I leave you with these thoughts from Breaking Free by Beth Moore:

One of the things I enjoy most about God is his daily-ness. We don't develop an appreciation for His presence from crisis points. Pure appreciation for God's presence emerges from a daily walk—perhaps in the mundane more than the miraculous…I remember when a profound change occurred in my daily approach to God. For years I asked God to walk with me. Suddenly, as if someone pulled the string on a lamp, I realized God wanted me to walk with Him.

Action

Take a walk today with God. Bring someone else along if you can.