Consistency

Gen 5:22-24 "After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him."

Consistency. We don't hear much about it anymore. Instead, we hear that there is always something out there that is better, that is brighter, that we need to strive for. This can lead to discontentment and then all kinds of garbage happens. A younger wife. Another job where I dedicate all my time and energy. A more exciting high. (I can't believe that people are now snorting bath salts…unreal.) A desire to have more stuff. The problem is, none of these things satisfy. There is always something else. There is always something more.

Enoch had it right. Here was a guy who was consistent. After Methuselah was born he apparently decided that he needed to live differently. He needed to strive for something else that was meaningful. Not the empty pleasures that this world can bring, but something more satisfying, more purposeful that would never leave him empty. And that thing was a relationship with the God of the universe. Twice in three verses Moses writes: "Enoch walked with God." This was it. This was what life was all about for him.

What does this mean exactly…to walk with God? I know one of the things that my wife and I have said that we are going to do this summer is walk more. We need this exercise and frankly, it is a good time to be together. When we walk together we go the same direction. We travel at the same pace. And we talk.

Other words for "walk" are: "to go, to come, to depart, to move." In other words, Enoch moved with God. He went where God went. He saw where God was working and he lived His life there…in God's presence, doing what God was doing. He went the direction that God was going. He did not get ahead of Him and he did not get behind Him. He let God lead and he traveled with Him. And Enoch talked. He had a relationship. He communicated with God. God was His best Friend.

And the thing is…he did this consistently for three-hundred years. He didn't waver. He didn't give up. He did not doubt. He didn't wonder what else was out there that could be better. And the reason was: He knew that there was nothing out there that was better. This was it. This was the life. He loved it. And God knew it…and He took him. Their relationship was so close that God said: "Hey. Let's not have any more distance between us. Come and live in my presence" and God somehow made it happen without Enoch's death. Everyone else in this chapter lived to be over eight or nine-hundred years old and died. Not Enoch. God snatched him away. Amazing. All because Enoch had a consistent walk with God.

Now, I don't pretend that this would happen to anyone else. In fact, it only happened to one other guy in history…Elijah. But it is going to happen to the church. Some day when Christ returns, we will all be snatched away. We will all be taken and not die. Wouldn't it be cool if our testimony, if my testimony either in life and death is that I consistently walked with God. That I moved with God. That I always went the direction that God was going. I need this consistency.