“They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?'” — Luke 24:32
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Sometimes coaches give their best pointers when they walk alongside a struggling player from the locker room to the practice field, reminiscing about the days they were a player and sharing ways to stay positive in spite of challenges and disappointments.
Some of the best wisdom comes from walking with someone more seasoned in the journey. After Jesus’ resurrection, He walked on the Emmaus Road (Luke 24:13-35) with two people for several miles. Even though they did not recognize Him until He left them, they learned a lot from their walk with the Savior: “They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?'” (Luke 24:32).
When we walk with the Lord, we can gain wisdom and discernment beyond what we could gain from the world. But we have a choice in what our walk looks like. Take a look at these examples from the Bible:
For a period of time, Adam and Eve walked closely beside God. Everything changed when they chose to selfishly sin by eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:1-7). Though God provided for all of their needs, they weren’t satisfied and took things into their own hands instead of trusting Him. Suddenly, they weren’t close to God anymore and they tried to hide from God. The Lord wanted them to admit their wrong in order to remove the distance and restore the closeness, and asked them where they were. “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?'”(Genesis 3:8-9). Adam and Eve blamed one another and didn’t own their sin, and the result caused them to fall from their relationship with God (verses 10-34).
And then there was Enoch’s walk with God in Genesis 5:22, 24: “After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God … Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” He walked faithfully. Enoch’s faith walk must have been treasured by God, as he didn’t even have to taste death (only two people in the Bible were spared from death; the other was the prophet Elijah in 2 Kings): “By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: ‘He could not be found, because God had taken him away.’ For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5). Enoch and God blended with great harmony as Enoch followed God’s leadership throughout his life — he followed the Lord’s footsteps and listened to His guidance, and was blessed because of it.
It isn’t hard to see the difference in outcomes between the first couple’s journey in the Garden of Eden and Enoch’s. It’s better when we walk humbly, side-by-side with the Lord. What does your walk with God look like?
— Bill Kent, Pastor of Memorial Baptist Church, Sylvania, Georgia
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