From 5/18/20

I was thinking this morning on how inclusive God is.    Although the Jews and Israel have such an amazing place in the heart of God, he loved the entire world and made provision from the beginning to include all in His plan of salvation and blessings.  You can see it woven throughout the threads of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

As I began to think about this and the best way to trace God’s love and inclusion throughout the pages in a simplified way, my mind wandered to all the greats in the Scriptures.  As I began to trace my way through, I thought about an often-forgotten person at least in my teachings and sermons.   I thought about Enoch.  Enoch’s name is only mentioned nine times in the Bible so maybe that’s why he is not often the subject of many messages or Bible studies like Abraham the father of faith and those full of faith, Joseph, a man of strong conviction, ethics and vision,  David, a great king and a man after God’s own heart or Solomon and all of his wisdom  or like Paul with his miraculous conversion from a hater of the Christians to a follower of Christ.

I thought about Enoch this morning and the scripture states very simply, in Genesis 5:24  (KJV) “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. ” In the Complete Jewish Bible version, Enoch is called Hanokh and it states of him in v 24 “Hanokh walked with God, and then he wasn’t there, because God took him.”.  I read in the Antiquities of the Jews an account by the Jewish Historian Josephus, and he refers to him as Enoch and he concurs that there is no record that Enoch ever died.  Later in the book of Hebrews 11:5 (KJV), we read “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”  We know very little about him, yet Jude tells us that he was a prophet and prophesied that the Lord would come back.

I thought about this as I prepared for my morning and my workday.  I thought about the busy weekend of doing chores and tasks that kept me quite busy into the late hours of the night.  I thought about my time spent last week, thoughts to call friends that I have not seen or checked in on, thoughts about calling loved ones to see how they were doing but as usual time quickly slipped away as another chore came to light that had to be done, to-do items that never seem to get finished and yet another item added to the list.  Then I thought about Enoch again …. how did he start his day, what did he spend his time on that he pleased God so much? It could not have been like my week where I had to remind myself to pray.   What were his thoughts when he saw the first light of the morning…did he thank God, or did he roll over praying for just another 5 minutes?  How did he act that he left on record a testimony so amazing that he pleased God so much that God broke all the rules for him?  I wonder what Enoch would have done if someone frustrated him like the waste management company frustrated me last week by not picking up the trash.  I wonder if he would have spent as much time mumbling and complaining about it as I did or if he would have found a way to glorify God through it all and perhaps have been more understanding, since he was expecting God to come.

As I think about Enoch and about all the accolades that we go after in our lifetimes and the things we work so hard to acquire….it forces me to a more simplified prayer…Lord in all that I do, let me please you. Let the words of my mouth and meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight.

Liked this post? Follow this blog to get more.