Some years ago, there was a TV program called “Without a Trace,” about persons who disappeared suddenly. Do you remember the missing kids on milk cartons? Before there were Amber Alerts, the faces of America's missing children stared out from milk cartons during a short-lived initiative by the National Child Safety Council. The problem of missing persons is severe enough that there are national organizations devoted to finding them—children and adults.
It occurred to me recently that the first missing person was Enoch. We know little of him—only that “he walked with God; and was no more, because God took him.” In Hebrews, we read, "he was pleasing to God." (Gen. 5:24; Heb. 11:5) Do you realize how humble Enoch, the recipient of such grace, must have been? How else could he please God? "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).
I think that the more that you and I, like Enoch, walk in humility with God, the more likely we are to disappear. Paul said we are “hidden in Christ” (Col. 3:3). I think that means, in part, that people won’t see you and me anymore—they will see Jesus. Could this be the meaning of Paul's words, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Could this be the secret John the Baptist learned, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:3). What do people see when they look at us? Have “we” disappeared yet?
Greg,
ReplyDeleteFour individuals in the Old Testament have been portrayed as especially close to God: Enoch who walked with God, Abraham who was called the friend of God, Moses who spoke to God as a man speaks to his friend face-to-face, and David who was known by God as a man after His Own heart. One particular characteristic they all had in common was that they were intercessors. They all stood in the gap for others when judgment was warranted over the people they prayed for.
David prayed for the nation, even though it was his own sin of presumption that prompted God's reaction in judging the nation. So he pled with God to take His anger out on himself, not His people.
Moses found himself in the role as intercessor on multiple occasions, and was quite a negotiator in this humble role. He saved the lives of thousands of people by stepping in front of certain judgment from God over the stubborn and rebellious Hebrew nation as they wandered in the desert.
Abraham was also a skilled negotiator when he confronted God with the idea of sparing the few righteous souls in the cities of the plains when God was disposed to wipe them all out in an act of judgment. He stood in for his nephew Lot and Lot's family until a plan was arranged for their rescue before judgment fell.
When God told Enoch to name his son Methuselah there must have been some disclosure that worldwide judgment was going to fall. The name Methuselah implied that when he died the end would come. So I think that Enoch negotiated with God for his son to live longer than anyone will ever have lived to give the world time to repent! And I think that was what got God's attention more than any other thing so that He viewed Enoch as a "keeper." And so one day He "kept" him.
Perhaps, then, the way to become invisible is to commit ourselves to a life of intercession. God is still looking for someone to stand in the gap on behalf of those deserving of judgment! Based on the above examples, invisibility on earth gets noticed by Heaven.
Stan
Thank you Stan, what a great insight to the life of Enoch.
ReplyDeleteGreg