Reflections on Genesis 5:24

Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

I found this verse intriguing.  All the other generations mentioned lived for more than double, some even triple the length of time Enoch lived, and yet because Enoch walked with God, his life was much shorter.  I needed to research this further and came across an explanation which, to me, makes perfect sense.  God prevented Enoch from dying. God just took him away, instead.

What an inspirational thought.  To walk fully in the path with God that he could just take us away without having the need to die first!  I wonder how they did that.  Did God just approach him physically one day, and just say something like, “Follow me” as Jesus had said centuries later, and did they just walk off into a bright shining light?  Perhaps the bible’s idea of “no more” is that Enoch could have passed away peacefully in his sleep so there was no actual suffering.  Who knows, but the way the bible mentions this is, in itself, so peaceful.

Enoch’s shortened life brings to mind a couple of other thoughts.

The song by Billy Joel:  Only the good die young, but also all those children in the hospitals today who suffer with various illnesses.  Those beautiful children that you see often with big smiles on their faces and you wonder how they can be so joyful despite their bodies fighting to survive whatever battle they’re undertaking, and all I can think of is, they must know that God is already with them and they are more than ready to walk with God, even if their parents will do anything for them to survive their battles.

I remember my own childhood battles and the struggles I faced, growing up in hospitals, often begging God to please come get me because I was tired of the pain and I just wanted to quit life.  Now, well into my 50s, a miracle in itself, I realise that God clearly had other plans for me and I had to stick around.

To this day, I still sometimes question God’s reasoning, but when I think of my childhood, despite the traumas I experienced with my own personal battles, what I remember with fondness are the times I spent talking to God, when I felt Him closest to me, His love surrounding me like a warm blanket and I always felt protected in His embrace, even when all of life seemed like a nightmare at that time.  Doctors used me like a guinea pig, because they didn’t know how to treat me.  Other kids that had my condition or similar, I never saw them reach adulthood.  To me, the physical part of my childhood was just constant pain and what seemed like torture.  But as I struggled with the physical, the spiritual part of me grew, and that growth strengthened my bond with God.

We don’t know what Enoch’s life was like back then. But we do know he walked with God, and then God took him.  What a wonderful inspiration for all of us, to make a life goal, to walk with God, it doesn’t matter how old you are when you start, just as long as you start, and even when our time does come, it doesn’t matter how our life ends, because we will be with God.

Do you have a story to share about your own experience walking with God? I would love to read your story.