There is just something that is so pleasant about taking a walk with a good friend. Good conversation often accompanies the unhurried steps but you can also have long pauses of silence, simply enjoying the scenery that surrounds you. Unconsciously you may even walk in step with your companion. Walking together does mean some rather obvious decisions, however. You need to be headed in the same direction. Both of you must at least tacitly agree on the pace at which you will go. It might mean that one of you must slow down or speed up so that you can comfortably stay side by side. Walking together gives both of you the assurance that you are not alone, that someone wants to spend time with you, and that together you may make some discoveries that will bring solace or joy or hope or new insight to each of you.
Isn’t it interesting that in the biography that we have of Noah in the book of Genesis, it is recorded that he “walked with God”? In fact, one translation even says that “he walked in close fellowship with God”. While it is a phrase that is used throughout the Bible, it is not often used to describe a specific person. Moses recommended throughout the Pentateuch that the Israelites should “walk after the Lord their God” or that they should “walk in all His ways”. The prophet Micah reminded them that “it is good to do right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Perhaps it was on one of their walks together that God told Noah His plan for him to build a big ark so that his family and the animals would be safe when the big storm came. Perhaps it was on those regular walks that Noah responded to God and then did all that God commanded him to do. Certainly as he walked around the ark with God, he knew in amazing ways that God would surely keep His promises.
Wouldn’t you like to be remembered as someone who not only walked with God but lived “by faith in the Son of God”? As someone who actually stayed in step with Him?
