Enoch, A Man of Faith
So little is said of Enoch but yet he must have been a great man of faith for he was “pleasing to God.” Genesis 5:24 says, “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” Escaping death is a rare thing. Only Enoch and Elijah have that distinction, but how did they get there?
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. 6And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:5-6)
Joshua 22:5 gave the Hebrews the formula for living in the land. “Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God and walk in all His ways and keep His commandments and hold fast to Him and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” This was the Old Testament, so what is the New Testament formula? Romans 8:8 says, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Verse 9 goes on to say “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” So, pleasing God is to be absent from the flesh and present in the Spirit. Easy enough.
Consider it a matter of focus. The intent of your heart is revealed before God. Enoch pleased God because he “believed that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” We spend far too much time wondering about God. Pondering God and the things of God is one thing, but wondering about God is something very different. There was a confidence about Enoch. He believed and he knew he would be rewarded because of his faith. Easy enough. Why complicate things? It’s this simple: God is and God rewards those who seek Him. When we allow the noise of the world to crash in on us we allow doubt to creep in. Rarely does doubt come in like a flood. It creeps in like a slow leak, filling us up, pushing the faith out of us. So, how do we plug the leak? In direct opposition to a contrite heart is a wandering mind. Enoch was not controlled by his mind but led by his heart, and his heart was for God. Are you controlled or led? Give your heart to God and let it lead you to walk with Him.
Your servant,
John