40 Day Journey 2016 - Day 1 (Life and Death)

Last year for Lent I decided to spend one hour each day listening to God.  No agenda, no Bible Study, or other distraction.  Just listening.  I ended up also blogging about that hour and what God revealed.  It was a rich time and I am forever changed by those sacred moments.  The intimacy with the Lord was what this parched soul needed.

I was nervous to do the same thing this year. What if He didn't show up (like that is an option, of course He would!).  Frankly, it was hard work also.  I had to carve out an hour of my already busy days, and then it took hours into the night to blog about the experience. And I am lazy...I wasn't sure it was in me to do again!  So I decided to pray. What did the Lord have for me this year?

I felt the Lord was asking me to get in His Word. I want to hear Him, and I know He speaks through His Word.  So I am beginning with Genesis, and then will go to John.  If I have time I hope to make it through Hosea also. And I committed to read the Bible expectantly, attentively, and humbly (thank you Richard Foster - this makes such a difference).

So today, Ash Wednesday, I began my 2nd 40 Day Journey leading  up to Easter.

I took notes as I read to see if a theme or thought emerged.  What I noticed was life and death. In the beginning the earth was formless and void, darkness was over the surface of the deep (death); and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface (life).  The Lord God formed man from dust (death) and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (life).  We move ahead to Cain killing Abel (death) and then God giving Adam and Eve another son, Seth (life).  This cycle continues for generations. My take away?  God gives life.  God breathes life into us. God IS life!  Am I in despair over a situation?  Am I hopeless in any area of my life?  I can ask God and He will be pleased to breathe new life into the dead parts of my heart.  What good news.  But how can we as believers experience this?

I am still unearthing this truth, but there are some guys that give us a hint.  In Genesis 5:22 we read that, "Enoch walked with God".  And in Genesis 6:9, "...Noah walked with God."  I might be more in tune to this since we just studied this in our Tuesday morning Bible Study.  We discussed the word "walk", why that word is used.  We decided it was an action word, it was steady, when walking "with" God it may have a sense of keeping in step with Him, going where He goes.

Back up in Genesis 4:26, after Adam's grandson Enosh was born the Bible says, "then men began to call upon the name of the Lord."  But we don't see anyone walking with God until Enoch, generations later.  I am taking some liberty here, but I wonder if God was pretty excited about Enoch.  Before him, men called on the name of the Lord, but Enoch walked with God! There is a definite difference.  I imagine shoulder to shoulder (figuratively), a nearness, having conversations both speaking and listening.  This is a relationship.

I love Genesis 5:24.  The NIV says, "Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." The verses leading up to this share how his ancestors "died".  Enoch was "no more", because God took him away.  Wow.

I imagine Enoch walking so closely with the Lord that one day God just leaned over and scooped him right up.  People were like, "Where's Enoch?  He was just right here?" That is not death, that is LIFE!  That is God.  He offers life to all of us, and abundantly as we walk with Him.

Do you just call on the name of the Lord, do you lift a prayer when you have a need or do you walk faithfully with the Lord?  Is it an active relationship, or is it dead?  Ask God to breathe life into your relationship with Him.  Oh I want to live in such a way, that one day, I am no more.