A little girl came into my office
It had been one of those weeks. A chapel devotion at the Christian school, where we set a little house on fire with cold sparks and rescued a damsel in distress. Two CrossFit workouts with guys half my age who crushed me. A room full of Christian school leaders from across South Florida. A new membership class. A houseful of med students for dinner — and one spiritually curious doctor who received Christ right there in my living room. Busy. Good, but busy. Going, going, going. Doing, doing, doing.
Then a little girl came into my office. Uninvited, but always welcome. She sat down and started an interrogation. Do you talk to God? What does His voice sound like? Do you ever sin, Pastor James? And when she left, I realized what she was really asking. She wanted to know what a relationship with God actually looks like. Not knowing about Him. Walking with Him. And honestly, so do I. Because so much of my life feels like doing things for God rather than just being with God. Can I get an amen?
Lived, and he died
That was the question I carried into Genesis 5. Read it slowly and it starts to sound like a drumbeat. A man lived, and he died. He had sons, and he died. Lived, had sons, and died. Over and over. Eight times. Until the rhythm breaks — Enoch walked with God, and he was no more, for God took him.
I found an old pair of shoes this week. They've seen a lot of miles. And if you live 900 years, you can walk a lot of miles. But here is what I think the text is telling us. It is not about the duration of the miles — the accomplishments, the experiences, the accolades. It is about the direction you are going. And most of all, who you are going there with. So-and-so lived, and he died. But Enoch walked with God. Not the miles. The direction. The company.
Two Lamechs, two ways
Genesis is doing something beautiful here, and you will miss it if you read too fast. Seven generations down from Cain you get a man named Lamech — proud of his violence, flaunting his sin, living however he pleased. Works. Rebellion. A dead end that always produces death. But seven generations down from Seth you get Enoch. There is a second Lamech waiting at the end of this line too, and his son is Noah. Two family trees. Two ways to live.
Go back to the brothers and you see the same thing. Cain came to God in his own strength, through his works, and it ended in murder. Abel came through sacrifice. I can't help but wonder if Abel remembered the animal skins God made to cover his mom and dad when they left the garden — a constant reminder that we need a sacrifice to find life. Can you see it? Every story in Genesis is already whispering the name of Jesus. In the middle of all that corruption, there is a thread of light. And picture the overlap on the screen — Adam living long enough to tell his grandchildren and great-grandchildren what it was like to walk with God. Enoch is listening. Lamech is listening. And one day Noah hears the stories too.
He really believed God
So how did Enoch do it? Genesis does not say much. But Hebrews 11 does. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death. And then this: without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever draws near to God must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.
Be careful with that word believe. In the Greek it is not just an intellectual thing. Some of the people who know the most theology are Satan and his demons. They believe God exists. They just will not bow the knee. There is a difference between believing this stool can hold me and actually putting my weight down on it. Enoch did not just know about God. He trusted Him. He put his weight down. And I wonder what that would look like in your life. In that hard situation at work, where you do not have to compromise. When the bills are tight in a city like Miami. When you are single and tempted to settle for Mr. Right Now instead of Mr. Right. What would it look like to really believe God?
And do not hear health, wealth, and prosperity. The reward Enoch believed in was not a check in the mailbox. The reward is Christ Himself — the friend who will never leave you nor forsake you. Enoch believed God, he trusted God, and he spoke the truth in a corrupt generation. Believe. Trust. Proclaim. Not to earn God's love, but because we already have it.
Because He lives, I will live
Here is the gospel hiding in a genealogy. Enoch walked with God and was no more. But Jesus came down here as God, walked with us, suffered, and died. Eight times in this chapter we read it — he died, he died, he died. But in Christ we hear something else. Because He lives, I will live. Because He walked, I can walk.
Coming home from North Carolina, my wife drove ten of the twelve hours. I begged her to let me take the wheel. Forty-five minutes later I looked up near Fort Pierce and saw a sign — Orlando, this way. I had driven an hour and a half the wrong direction. Some of us have put a lot of miles in the wrong direction. And today is a chance to turn around and head the right way, with the right Person. You do not have to do more or be more. Just take the next step — no matter how small, no matter how far — and start walking with Him. What does a relationship with God look like? Maybe it looks like that first step. This is home turf. And we will cheer you on.
