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By Tyson Thorne

April 17, 2018
 

TheWalk Large

We've talked a lot about connecting with God here at Think-Biblically.com, about how building multiple connections draws us nearer our Creator. Our goal, however, isn't simply to draw near to, but to walk closely with, the heavenly Father over the course of our lives. We've been trained to think of "walking with God" as a figurative exercise but nothing could be further from the truth. Today I suggest to you that you can begin literally walking with God every day of your life. Despite the work schedule, the business of family and the good times with friends.

I want you to look at a passage with me, in the first book of the Bible, chapter three verse eight:

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard.

The context of this event is that Adam and Eve had just sinned greatly. They didn't just disobey God by eating the fruit he told them not to, they revealed a lack of trust in God by believing the serpent over God. And we know the events of this story so well that we miss an important part of it. When it says that they "heard the sound of the Lord God moving about" we lose an indication of the daily lives of Adam and Eve in translation. The Hebrew literally translates to, "They heard the voice of his feet." In other words, they recognized his footsteps.

This wasn't the first time that God had come to visit, God visited them so frequently that they recognized the sound of his footsteps. We're also told that it was the breezy time of the day and I believe that too is important. The time was regular. They didn't have Outlook to schedule their daily activities but they knew that during the cool of the evening, the breezy part of the day, that God would come to them and they would walk with God through the garden temple. Every day they would meet with the Lord of Hosts and walk with him and enjoy his company. Every day except this day in chapter three.

Friends, God wants you to walk with him. Not in the Garden of Eden — that's where Adam and Eve happened to be — but rather he wants to walk with you right where you are. He wants you to know him so well that you can recognize his footsteps. How does this happen? Well, if I wanted to cop out I could say be disciplined, read your Bible, and pray more. While those things are important, they can also distract us from God. When we sit down at the table to read our Bible to learn all about God, we need to take a moment or two, or three, to look up from the Good Book and to God. He's there, in your midst, probably sitting in the chair across from you. Ask him to show you what's important, both in the passage you are studying and in the life you are living. He so much wants to tell you.

The summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school I worked for a Christian publishing house, Accent Publications. During my breaks, instead of chatting with coworkers by the water cooler I'd slip into an unused storage closet to pray. Those ten or fifteen minutes, twice a day, wa a wonderful experience. It was my time with the Lord. And instead of asking him for things, I'd ask him to explain things. Many times I received guidance on what was important to me at the time. Sometimes no answer was forthcoming, but God didn't forget my question he simply wanted to answer it at another time. You see, God wasn't just with me in that dark room, he was with me always, and he could answer those questions when it was most powerful to do so.

Often, the times that were most powerful was when I was exercising my spiritual gift. God taught me so much when I was preparing lessons or teaching Bible studies. So yes, prayer, Bible study, working out of our gifts are all important disciplines but they only become a part of our walk with God when we are passionate about the person of God rather than passionate about the prayer or the Bible or our spiritual gifts. Passion for things or experiences wears off, but passion for God never disappoints. Only a passionate relationship with God will meet your every need. I leave you with Jesus' words from John 17.3:

Now this is eternal life – that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.