<p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Walking With God</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Gwen Smith</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Today’s Truth</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Enoch walked faithfully with God (Genesis 5:24a NIV).</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Friend to Friend</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">When our kids were itty-bitty my husband Brad and I used to hold little hands a lot.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Sometimes it was to protect them from danger, like if we were crossing a street.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Sometimes it was to calm fears or to help them to feel secure.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Sometimes it was because we were on a mission to get through or to a place quickly.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Other times it was for the simple pleasure of strolling, skipping, and smiling together.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Now that they’re young adults, my kids aren’t so keen on holding hands with Mom and Dad anymore. Sigh. There’s still the occasional watching-a-movie-on-the-couch-at-home handhold when they are in town, but it’s a rarity. And I miss it.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">I love locking fingers with my people. There’s beauty and intimacy to it. A tangible connection that binds our skin and braids our souls.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">I love walking with them, hearing their hearts, talking through tight spots, giving advice, laughing, and enjoying their company.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Similarly, our heavenly Father finds pleasure when you and I walk with Him; when we take His hand and share our time, trials, treasures, and thoughts. The prophet Micah spoke to this. “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">This is a simple, yet profound summary of God’s desire for us. A revealing of His longing for you and me to live in constant communion with Him. To lace our fingers with His in good, bad, scary, and sad times. Whether the sun is high in the sky or thunder rumbles low in our hearts.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Let’s break that verse down a bit.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">ACT JUSTLY</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">In order to act justly I have to behave in a way that God considers just – not the ways that the world considers just. My righteousness (salvation) was made complete through the sacrifice of Jesus, but my willingness to walk in His righteousness is a choice I have to make each day. I get to choose whether I will do things my way or yield to the Holy Spirit within me and move as He leads. When I pray and invite the Lord into my day, it’s like reaching for His hand and asking God to lead me in His ways.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">LOVE MERCY</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Mercy is God’s kindness to NOT punish our sins as we deserve. It’s His restraint from condemning His children. If it weren’t for the mercy of God all hope would be crushed! Instead, hope is vibrant in grace because of Jesus. We can live responsively to His mercy (love mercy) by being grateful women … women who thank God each morning for a clean slate. We love mercy when we forgive others as we have been forgiven. When we do not condemn others as we might think they deserve. Forgiveness and mercy go hand in hand.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">WALK HUMBLY WITH GOD</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">I love how the Bible describes the relationship between God and Enoch.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">“Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away” (Genesis 5:24). What in the world? I don’t know what set Enoch’s relationship with God apart so much that God just had to snatch him from earth, but my glory – I want some of that! Don’t you?</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">And look what was written about Enoch’s arc-building great-grandson, Noah. “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God” (Genesis 6:9).</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">They walked faithfully with God.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">My prayer today is that God would consider me a woman who walks faithfully with Him.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">I don’t want to be the girl who only reaches for His hand when the road is bumpy, when my checkbook is empty, or when my feet are stumbly. And I don’t want to be like the teenager who’s embarrassed by her dad and only gives him attention in private or on occasion. I want to live with the faith of a child who acts justly, loves mercy, and daily takes the hand of her Father to face each moment, mountain, and memory right by His side.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Let’s Pray </span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Dear Lord, Please teach me to walk faithfully with You. Show me what it looks like to act justly. Convict me when I don’t. Help me to love mercy and to give it as freely as I take it. I want to hold Your hand. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.</span></p><p> </p>
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