Dave’s sermon on Enoch asked the question ‘How can I walk with God in a world that is hostile to God?’
We tend to think – naïvely, foolishly and erroneously – that it was easier for the saints in the Bible to walk by faith because people were more God-fearing in those days and they did not have to contend with the common disregard or hostility to God which is a feature of Western society nowadays.
However, as Dave pointed out, this is a fallacy. Enoch lived at a time just before the flood, when man’s wickedness was so great ‘that the thoughts of his heart were only evil all the time.’ (Gen 6:5) All of the Bible saints know the pressures of walking with God amidst a hostile and wicked world: ‘Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar! Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am a man of peace, but when I speak, they are for war.’ (Ps 120:5-7)
Our task is not to complain at the difficulties of living by faith, whether that is amongst the paganism still rife in many countries, amongst the lies of other religions which deny the truth of the gospel or amongst the secularism which denigrates God in our Western society. Instead, we are to draw close to God, secure in the fact that when we do this, He draws near to us. (James 4:8) As we fix our eyes on Jesus, looking up to see those things by faith which are invisible to the natural eyes, we are able to walk to a different drumbeat:
‘I will walk by faith, even when I cannot see/ Because this broken road prepares Your will for me.’ (Jeremy Camp, ‘Walk by Faith’)
On this journey – which we make in company with a host of others who can encourage and cheer us along the way, understanding that maturity ‘consists in a long, unhurried prayerful walk of becoming reconciled to God and to others’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘Practise Resurrection’, P 117), we discover that God is working, not only in our lives, but in the lives of those around us, for Isaiah says, ‘All Kedar’s flocks will be gathered to you.’ (Is 60:7) Even those who are currently afar off can be brought into God’s kingdom by His grace. Enemies can become friends. The slow work of reconciliation goes on, unfettered, even when we are chained in prison (as both Joseph and Paul testify.)