Walking with the Lord

Have you ever enjoyed a good walk-maybe a walk around the neighbourhood, or a walk in a flower park, or a walk out in nature somewhere? I have enjoyed many such walks, and they can indeed be a fun, relaxing experience. But sometimes the best part about walking is walking with someone, just talking and enjoying each other's company.

Old Testament Walks
Have you ever noticed that the Lord seems to enjoy walking as well? We read of Him walking with many people in the Bible. The first we read of Him walking is in the book of Genesis chapter 3, where in verse 8 we read of Adam and Eve:

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

I wonder how many times God walked in the garden thus with Adam and Eve, and what sort of things they may have talked about. How Adam and Eve must have missed that close fellowship with the Lord when it was gone! But did you ever consider that the Lord may have missed those walks as well? Then we read of the Lord walking with Enoch in Genesis 5:22:

After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters.

And, in verse 24:

And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

It seems that the Lord enjoyed walking with Enoch so much that He took him up to heaven to walk with Him there! And no doubt they walk there still.

New Testament Walks
The Lord Jesus walked with many people during His time on earth. He walked many places with His disciples during His ministry. After His resurrection we read of Him walking with Peter as He helped Peter work through his denial of the Lord (John 21:15-22). We also read of His walk with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. What a walk that must have been, as He "expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself".

Yes, what would a walk with the Lord have been like!? What things He could have spoken of and talked about! How wonderful to hear the Word of the Lord from His own lips! I wonder how many times and with how many other people the Lord may have walked the earth that are not recorded in the Bible? Surely He could have walked with many of His people at one time or another. We get a hint of this in an often-ignored passage in Deuteronomy 23.

A Particular Physical Walk
In this passage, the Lord tells the Israelites to attach a little scoop-shovel to their staffs so that when they relieved themselves outside the camp they could cover over their waste with it. This is the sort of passage we often just pass over quickly as one of the little necessary details of life that we'd rather not dwell on. But if we do, we will miss something very interesting in this passage. For in verse 14 we read why the Lord asked them to do this:

For the Lord your God walks in the midst of the camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.

Some estimate that there were approximately two million Israelites in the camp at this time. Surely among all those people no one would notice one stranger, particularly if He looked like another Israelite. Who knows how often the Lord may have walked among the people for whom He cared so much; perhaps stopping to chat with someone here, or to help someone lift an animal out of the mud there? Yet it seems that He didn't want to come upon anything during these walks that would gross Him out and make Him want to leave.

A Singularly Spiritual Walk
We no longer have the Lord walking among us in this physical way. Acts 3:20-21 says:

And that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things.

Yet, though He may not walk with us in this way, God is still among us! As Christ said in John 16:7:

Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

Yes, His Holy Spirit is with us, walking with us even now! But as He walks with us, I wonder if there are things in our lives that may appear as piles of refuse to Him-thoughts or attitudes or actions that may upset Him or make Him feel unwanted, things that we should have covered over and gotten rid of long ago? As we gather to worship the Lord and focus on Him, let us put away all such things and let Him walk among us freely. And let us look forward together to the day when at last we all will walk with the Lord in His glorious new creation. Let us focus on that as we worship Him.