Friday, March 9, 2012

DOES GOD REALLY LIKE YOU?

There was a guy in the Old Testament who never died. Forget about Elijah. This one was Enoch. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve never heard about him. Reason: nothing much was written about him. He did not cause a revolution or revival. He did not part a sea, river, or milk in his cereal bowl. He did not heal anyone. All that is written about him is his family. He most probably was a stay-at-home dad. Let’s look at the 7 bible verses that talk about Enoch in Genesis:
When Jared was 162 years old, he had Enoch. After he had Enoch, he lived another 800 years, having more sons and daughters. Jared lived a total of 962 years. And he died.
When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he had Methuselah. Enoch walked steadily with God. After he had Methuselah, he lived another 300 years, having more sons and daughters. Enoch lived a total of 365 years.
Enoch walked steadily with God. And then one day he simply was gone: God took him. (Genesis 5:18-24)
Isn’t it interesting that all that the bible recorded about Enoch’s spirituality was that he walked steadily with God?
He did not walk around with his head in the skies, with this glazed look like he was holier than the pope. He did not turn water into wine. He wasn’t praying all the time, since he had time to father some kids. Trust me, if he did anything that was quite spectacular, we would have known about it, since he was not quite normal (a guy who gets taken by God is not normal, is he?)
If he had a secret, it was the fact that he steadily walked with God.
I don’t think I am qualified enough to start debating what walking steadily with God really is. I only have suggestions. Could it be that he always walked around with a perpetual knowledge of how much God loved him? He most probably had a special relationship with God to where God was a buddy (you don’t walk around with a stranger, you know). I don’t think it was his behaviour, good looks or cologne. But it is a fact that Enoch was very pleasing to God. See for yourself:
By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. “They looked all over and couldn’t find him because God had taken him.” We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken “he pleased God.” It’s impossible to please God apart from faith… (Hebrews 11:5-6)
It was that simple! The guy believed that he pleased God! “Oh, come on, Paul,” I can hear you say, “This guy must have done some mighty acts of faith to please God!”
Beats me too! This guy was so pleasing to God that one day God just couldn’t contain his pleasure any more. God got tired of seeing Enoch from down below. “I must have you at once in heaven,” he must have told Enoch. “My only problem is that you have failed to die. So I guess I’ll just steal you from your family”
And lo and behold, there was no funeral for old Enoch.
But still, nothing significant was written about him. You will not find his name in a Sunday school textbook. No. Kids are not allowed to have bible role models who did nothing but ended up leaving no tombstone on earth.
It is also interesting to note that Enoch’s dad, Jared, lived almost three times as old as Enoch. So he must have looked around for his son, only to be told, “Sorry, he got too pleasing to God to live on earth.”
This really tells us of how much God loves us. God couldn’t wait for death to take Enoch before he could have a piece of him. And he really doesn’t have pleasure in killing people just so he can have them in heaven. If you ever get so pleasing to God and you know it, your photo will also be put in the papers under the title: LOST. The story will go somehow like this: “The person in the photo above got lost. He was last seen in the company of God. There is a great reward for whoever finds him, though it is highly unlikely, since he was so pleasing to God. You all know what happened to Enoch…”
I am very sure that is the same with us now. God wants us to be so wrapped up in him, so steadily walking with him, that one day, his front door will be closer than ours and he will say, “Why don’t you spend the night?”
Don’t ask me, but I don’t think I would want to go back home after spending a night in God’s house.

(Excerpt from my upcoming book, What if God Doesn't Really Love You?)

4 comments:

  1. This is one of those writings ive never gotten weary at reading...Does God really like me???

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  2. does he really like you?? really???

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  3. Paul, this is awesome. This faith thing with Enoch, it is interesting and inspiring. I know that to believe and walk like there is a legion of angels walking aroungd me is great. But how about when it feels like the agels wont rescue you when you asked God to. And what's with this issue of if it's your will.... when Jesus said ask and ye shall receive.

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  4. prisca, when you are assured that God not only loves you but also likes you, you can know that he's got your best interests at heart. about God's will, all i can say is, delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. just love God, and he will cause you to walk in his statutes. for it is God who causes us to will and do his good pleasure (philippians 2:13). God is the one who started this work and he is willing to bring it to completion (philippians 1:6) and this faith is not your own, it is the work of God. be blessed, prisca!

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