Putting one foot in front of the other is difficult some days.  Robert Robinson was the 18^th century Cambridge pastor who penned the famous hymn “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”  The positive nature of the song seemed not to reflect his hard, later life.  The story is told of his en­count­er one day with a wo­man who was stu­dy­ing a hymn­al.  She asked how he liked the hymn she was hum­ming. In tears, Robinson replied, “Madam, I am the poor un­hap­py man who penned that tune ma­ny years ago, and I would give a thou­sand worlds, if I had them, to en­joy the feel­ings I had then.” 

When I hear that story I think of the phrase in Robinson’s song “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it / prone to leave the God I love.”  Another hymn writer, William Cowper, seems to have been cut from the same cloth.  Depression dogged Cowper all his days.  ”God Moves in a Mysterious Way” is one of Cowper’s songs.  The phrase “Behind a frowning providence / he hides a smiling face” reflects, perhaps, the two-sided perspective of a man battling his own inner turmoil yet trusting the “fountain filled with blood, flowing from Emmanuel’s veins”-the hymn for which Cowper is best known.[1] 

Response to suffering and agony take many forms.  We feel what we feel intensely.  We cry out with the Psalmist as he did four times in a row “How long, O Lord?!”[2]  The writer does not question God’s intervention but His delay–why are you taking so long?!  We suspect the loss of God’s nearness.  God has not left but we do not sense the shine of His face on us any longer.[3] 

“I have suffered much.”[4]  Let that statement hang in the air for a moment.  There are those of us who feel that suffering every day: fingernails scraping across the blackboard of life.  Screeching matches our latch on to the Psalms in our cries toward heaven.  “I have suffered much” comes from Psalm 119:105-113 capturing some of Robinson and Cowper’s sentiment.  While the source of suffering comes from without, this verse indicates an inner unrest: an affliction eating at us which was caused by others.  

Note the context.  The previous verses suggest there are “evil” and “wrong paths.”[5]  Indeed, the wicked set snares on them.[6]  Fighting internal turmoil because of external havoc, the writer says he takes his life in his own hands[7].  Earlier he declared “I am laid low in the dust” after “they almost wiped me from the earth.”[8]  We face opposition, hatred, suppression, or oppression from others.  Walking this life is hard.  

So how do we make it down the road?  The “lamp” which is our light from the famed Psalm 119:105 is not a general comment about Scripture’s illumination.  In my study, I have a set of lamp reproductions based on finds from various archaeological digs.  All these lamps would fit in the palm of a normal human hand.  The single wick gave off scant light; perhaps enough to see the next step or two on a moonless night.  Sitting on a lampstand, the candle-like quality could function as a night light for us, at best.  In contrast, our 21^st century mindset thinks “lamp” equals a halogen headlight, casting a beam hundreds of feet into the murky darkness.  The Psalmist celebrates no such thing.  All we have is a lamp which gives enough light for us to know the next step we take.[9] 

Our life’s walk is based on Scriptural trust in things we cannot see.[10] If we are serious about walking down the path set by God, we must have no illusions about understanding why our present circumstances may be so hard.  This section of the Psalm[11] concludes with the writer saying he will follow God’s Word “to the end.”  Until our mission on earth is complete, we continue walking with the light of Scripture that tells us only what we need to know.[12]  In theological terms “the perseverance of the saints” teaches in part that we bear the responsibility of obedience without expectation of certain outcomes. 

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is a Burmese activist who protested her government’s treatment of its people.  While marching with some of her supporters one day, soldiers blocked their path, leveling automatic weapons at the group.  Suu Kyi kept walking, despite orders to stop.  John Boorman made the woman’s suffrage a focal point of his 1995 film Beyond Rangoon.  The famed Irish rock band U2 created a title commemorating Suu Kyi’s simple action: “Walk On.”  No phrase better represents Robinson’s, Cowper’s, Suu Kyi’s or my passage on earth in the midst of suffering than that we walk on. 

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[1] John Piper. 2001. The Hidden Smile of God. (Crossway): 80-119.  This chapter is quite disturbing in that Cowper was given to suicidal tendencies.  Piper’s fine research, however, cautions us not to cast aspersions, nor jump to conclusions because of a man’s mental state, about a man’s eternal state

[2] Psalm 13:1-2.

[3] Numbers 6:24-26.

[4] Psalm 119:107.  The Hebrew word “much” has the idea of very, great, exceeding, or totally, most well known for its use in Genesis 1:31 “God saw His creation-it was very good.  For the mathematician, the idea may be best communicated by the phrase “to the nth degree.”  The word “suffered” (NIV) is from the Niphal stem suggesting a reflexive, self oriented idea.  To be self-afflicted could mean, as some commentators suggest, contrition or humility in repentance.  But the context indicates no personal sin, rather outside persecution.  Hanah means we are brought low, knocked down; in some ways, humiliated by our circumstances.

[5] Psalm 119:104; see also v. 101.

[6] Psalm 119:110.

[7] Meaning he is in jeopardy of losing his life: Psalm 119:109; Judges 12:3; 1 Samuel 19:5; 28:21; Job 13:14.

[8] Psalm 119:25, 87.

[9] Solomon agrees that God’s teaching is a lamp giving light leading down the way of life: Proverbs 6:23.

[10] Hebrews 11:1-16.

[11] Psalm 119 is an alphabetical Psalm, divided into the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.  If read in Hebrew, each verse in a given letter’s section would begin with that letter.  Verses 105-113 begin with the Hebrew letter “nun” or “n.”

[12] “To the end” can mean consequence or reward at the end of life.  Psalm 19:11.  Derek Kidner. 1975. Psalms 73-150. TOTC. (IVP): 425.  But the context seems clear that the Psalmist intends he will continue on through to the end of his lifetime (Psalm 119:33, 44).

“Trim 10 pounds for Christmas by walking” suggests a headline from a ladies’ journal in my mailbox.  The Mayo Clinic advises walking for healthier lives.[1]  Physical therapists tell us continual motion over years sustains long life.[2]  There are websites for walkers where one can go to find any information necessary to begin or get better at walking.[3]  And I personally cannot wait to read Geoff Nicholson’s, The Lost Art of Walking: The History, Science, and Literature of Pedestrianism.[4]  

For my part, I have been walking for years.  At present, my feet pound 25 miles of pavement each week.  Folks around Lake Bruce wave to me as I traverse the road from Mahseh Center, back again.  Even the deer stand and watch with interest-from a distance.  While I know aerobic exercise has multiple benefits for my body, there is a constant struggle of commitment: sometimes just getting out the door is a victory!  In addition, devotion must be followed by repetition.  Logging those miles necessitates a steady, step-by-step gait. 

Consistency marked the Hebrews’ use of the word for walking.[5]  The idea behind treading the roads of one’s time on earth was the metaphor of conduct, “the whole bent of the life.”[6]  The first two times Scripture uses the word, focus is on how humans lost their proper walk.  The walkway to the garden was blocked and their walking ways caused the flood.[7]  Thereafter, Abram’s line walked in a different direction, marching to a different Drummer.[8]  From this point on in Scripture and Church history, when one walks, the pace of life is to be wholly dedicated to the Lord.[9] 

The theme of walking is linked closely with wholeness.  The imagery comes from shepherding: “If you want to become whole . . . you must walk before me; you must place yourself under my exclusive supervision, guidance, and protection.”[10]  The “whole round of the activities of the individual life” is referenced continuously in the New Testament letters, especially those of Paul and John.  Walk, used as a code of conduct, was unique in the language of the day making the Christian walk one of a kind.[12] 

So when Paul compares a Christian’s past life with their current lifestyle, the apostle says these are ways we “formerly” walked, we are “no longer” to walk this way.  Our habits change.  Our life is to be different from unbelievers.  How?  We are to walk in The Spirit.  A short list includes being honest, truthful, loving, wise, orderly, obedient, doing good works.  Why?  We are to walk “worthy of” or “pleasing to” God.  The word indicates that our actions are not simply outward displays of the Christmas carol, “Just be good, for goodness sake.”  Ours are not simple acts of service.  Our reasons for walking down a certain road are our inner motives, totally given to Jesus, without thought of ourselves.[15]  

James Houston’s writing best describes the interiority of the Christian life.  I have read and reread passages of his book Joyful Exiles: Life in Christ on the Dangerous Edge of Things.  Houston explains how sin has so invaded our inner lives that, among other things, we believe being “good for goodness sake” is what it means to be Christ-like.  Quoting Augustine, Houston concludes, “Where I am most inwardly myself, there You are far more than I.”[16]  

Before I walk in Christ according to Colossians 2:6, my inner being must bow to “this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (1:27).  I am about to begin my exercise for the day-walking.  With each footfall, I will be contemplating yet again how my whole life can be unified for Christ, “being good for Jesus’ sake.” 

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[1] http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/walking/HQ01612

[2]http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1334940/exercise_promotes_longevity_and_mental_health/index.html

[3] http://www.thewalkingsite.com/

[4] Read The Washington Post review at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159448998X

[5] See Mark 7:5; Acts 21:21; Hebrews 13:9.  A deep sadness grips me when I see modern Bible translations lose the impact of the words in the original language.  Walk gives us a picture; live (the common translation) is just the idea.  The English Standard Version captures both the intention and direction in its word-for-word rendition.  The best thought-for-thought translation of the text remains Eugene Peterson’s The Message.  Read, for example, how walk is rendered in Ephesians 4:1.

[6] Leon Morris. 1959. The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians, NICNT. (Eerdmans): 118.

[7] See Genesis 3:24; 6:12.

[8] God tells Abram in Genesis 12:1 to walk (often, unfortunately, translated “go”) to a new land so that Abram might walk before God (Genesis 17:1). 

[9] One of the earliest Christian books was entitled Didache or “teaching.”  The metaphor of choosing between two “ways” or walking down two “roads” is a constant recurrence in the text.

[10] Benno Jacob quoted by Allen P. Ross in his inestimable commentary on Genesis Creation and Blessing. (Baker, 1988): 331.

[11] Vine, W. E. 1984. The Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Reprint (Bethany): 1207.  Beginning in Galatians 5:16, the full list follows: Ephesians 2:2, 10; 4:1, 17; 5:2, 8, 15; Philippians 3:17, 18; Colossians 1:10; 2:6; 3:7; 4:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 4:1, 12; 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 11; 1 John 1:6, 7; 2:6, 11; 2 John 4, 6; 3 John 3, 4.

[12] G. Kittel. 1977. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Reprint (Eerdmans): V. 944.

[13] Just from the book of Ephesians we have this list: 2:2, 10, 11, 13; 4:1, 17, 22; 5:2, 8, 15.

[14] Galatians 5:16; Romans 13:13; 2 John 4; Ephesians 5:2; Colossians 4:5; 2 Thessalonians 3:6; 2 John 6; Ephesians 2:10.  Notice our habits are not described as an external list of “do’s and don’ts” but rather those matters which proceed out of one’s inner life.  This includes the “good works” of Ephesians 2:10 which are totally of God, by God, and through God in the context.

[15] Philippians 1:27; Colossians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; and 3 John 6 are just a few of the many references to walking as it pleases God.  The Greeks emphasized service in the interests of others for the political commonwealth.  [Moulton and Milligan. 1976. The Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament. Reprint. (Eerdmans): 75.] That type of service was as common then as it is now.  But the New Testament emphasis is on the intentions of one’s will, seen through our emotions and decisions.

[16] Run, do not walk, to buy this book from InterVarsity Press (2006).  I continue to ingest pages 31-50.

I scored 126^th out of 126 students.  When I was a junior in high school our class took a test for possible college level English curriculum in our senior year.  Having been told the results, I sat sobbing on my bedroom floor.  For some reason, grammatical prowess in my mother tongue eluded me.  Syntax seemed like “sin tax” to me. 

It was not until I learned another language that I began to understand my own.  I fell in love with small words that told other words what to do and where to go.  I was introduced to “from,” “in,” “through” and other prepositions in college Greek classes.[1]  The importance of directional connectors cannot be overestimated.  To this day I am impressed by the versatility of language, the multi-colored interaction of words with each other. 

“With” is a key preposition when it comes to human interaction with God.  “With” suggests relationship: closeness, proximity, interaction which is impossible “apart from” another.[2]  From the earliest pages of Scripture, God desired long-term, continual, personal presence by walking with His people.[3]  But it is Enoch and Noah who are singled out as ones who “walked with God.”[4]  After the paths of Abel[5] and Cain are clearly marked in Genesis four, Enoch’s birth gives new hope for change.  Not many people took the initiative to walk with God; in Genesis five, Enoch and Noah set the standard.[6] 

For Israel at large, God uses the literary format of the day to communicate His clear instruction: “The least you can do as my servant nation is to follow me.” The form of the book is organized around a suzerain-vassal treaty which meant that the king had the right to demand obedience from the servant nation.  Meeting the baseline measure of God’s expectation is to do as Deuteronomy 6:14 commands not to “follow other gods” but only to “follow after God” (13:4).  There seems to be a “lowest possible denominator” here that one would “at least” do this-give obedience to God and not other gods.  Following God is a covenantal obligation.  Loyalty is expected.[7]  

Some are said to have “walked before” God.[8]  David “followed after” God as did Josiah.[9]  While Israel is commended for following God in the desert in Jeremiah 2:2 it is only a few verses later (2:23) where God says these same people have run after other gods.  Yet there will come a day in the future Zechariah foretells when “ten men from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the edge of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you”.[10]  

But covenantal people should walk with God.[11]  The idea seems to be very specific, unusual, something not routine.  Once in the Minor Prophets, God is said to be with His priest Zerubbabel tying the covenant to His closeness with His servant.[12]  But in Malachi 2:4-6 we learn of Levi the priest: “He walked with me in peace and uprightness, turning many from sin.”  There too the covenant is mentioned.  In Levi’s case, the man took the initiative. 

So what is my responsibility?  It should come as no real surprise that Micah 6:8 is mentioned here: “And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  

To walk with God seems to be quite different than following after or walking before Him.  The preposition matters.  A high benchmark is set.  Walking with God means side-by-side, not behind or out in front.  There is a sense of accompaniment, of with-ness possible between me and my Maker.  Not only do I now understand the grammar, I desire the intimacy of with-ness.  

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[1] For those who know or remember, Dana and Mantey’s famous “Diagram of the Directive and Local Functions of Prepositions” in their A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament is the best visual picture to communicate prepositional usage (p. 113).

[2] The normal preposition in Hebrew means accompaniment or instrumentation.  Now it is possible to say you are with someone when it is not true.  The Lord calls His people out this way by saying, “Seek good, not evil, that you may live.  Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say He is” Amos 5:14.

[3] See WALKING: He Went First (Part 1).  Comments there about the durative action of the Hebrew verb hold true in Genesis 3:8; 5:22, 24; 6:9.

[4] Genesis 5:22, 24; 6:9.

[5] Seth is literally the meaning of his name-Abel’s “replacement.”

[6] Bruce K. Waltke gives a superb, structural overview of the text in question.  2001. Genesis: A Commentary. (Zondervan): 109-120.

[7] J. G. McConville. 2002. Deuteronomy.  In The Apollos Old Testament Commentary. (IVP):233-244.  It is impossible to communicate in a short article the importance of the word, idea, and application of “covenant.” 

[8] Abraham and Isaac: Genesis 17:1; 24:40; 48:15; Psalm 56:13.

[9] 1 Kings 14:8 and 2 Kings 23:3. 

[10] Zechariah 8:23.

[11] Genesis 5:22, 24; 6:9; 17:1; 24:40; 48:15.  “Covenantal people” should be committed, no matter what.

[12] Haggai 2:4.

January 9, 2009

10:00 am

Pioneers.  Explorers.  Trailblazers.  Others have gone before us.  And it’s a good thing.  Forerunners like Lewis and Clark established the possibilities of roads that moved people westward.  Neal Armstrong will forever be remembered for his leap from the lunar space module.  Rosa Parks has a name synonymous with standing up by sitting down.  Vistas and horizons can be conquered because someone else traversed the land first. 

God sets the pattern for all human activity including the routine of walking.  Indeed, the idea of the verb in Genesis 3:8 suggests not only did God regularly move about in the garden He had made, but He did so for Himself.[1]  Adam and Eve knew God’s habit, being alerted by hearing His approaching footsteps.[2]  Literally, God was “going traveling.”  He was moving “to and fro.”[3]  

What is the significance of such a cryptic statement “God walked?”  As The Personal God, He is invested, involved, connected; communion with humanity is His habit.  The response of sinful men and women has been to stop walking, to hide.  It was not until Enoch that humans could claim the same action-a continual traveling companion with God[4].  In order for us humans to reestablish walking as a God given activity, we must reestablish our “walk with God.”[5] 

The opposite of God walking with His people or people walking with God is to be directionless, meandering through life.  Cain’s line demonstrated the problem when one has no direction: it is to wander.[6]   The alternative to a travel plan is to wander aimlessly.  Being a vagabond is a homeless situation.  One is without roots.  Instability makes a person mentally unsteady, wavering, a reed swaying in the wind.[7]  The opposite of walking is endlessly wandering.  The endless end is endlessness. 

But it is Leviticus 26:12 “I will walk among you” that recaptures the original intention of God.  Here the presence of God is said to be in His dwelling, His tabernacling with His people.[8]  In fact, the reason God established a place to live with His people is so that God could move among His people.[9]  Walking in the garden, walking in the tabernacle both indicate God’s present personableness with His people. 

The tabernacle became flesh in the New Testament in the person of Jesus.  God’s movement amid humanity bears repeating: “The Word became flesh and tabernacled for a while among us.”[10]  In this way, Jesus is our forerunner, our pioneer, the One who has gone before us.  He tasted death for everyone, sharing our humanness, preceding us into heaven.[11]  Jesus is the source of salvation for all who obey him, saving completely.[12]  The earthly tabernacle was simply a copy of Him, the perfect tabernacle, who was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people.[13]  

Walking with God is now possible again. 

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[1] Victor P. Hamilton. 1990. The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-17. (Eerdmans): 192, n. 3.  The hithpael in Hebrew tells of a durative, continuous action.

[2] Some have suggested that what was heard was God’s voice, not His actual movement.  While there is some substance to the idea that hearing someone’s approach can be understood as hearing someone speak, 2 Samuel 5:24, 1 Kings 14:6, etc. use the same Hebrew construction for the noise of footfalls.  To this point some have suggested this and other physical manifestations of God were the pre-incarnate, second person of the Trinity, Jesus.  Walton, et al ties the word “sound” to “thunder” contending from Zephaniah 2:2 that God was coming in judgment, a precursor to the couple “hiding” as he suggests in The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament. (IVP): 32.

[3] Theologians refer to an “appearance” of God as a theophany.  Exodus 33:20-24:3 records an example as God says, “You can see my aftereffects, the results but the very presence of God you cannot see.”

[4] Genesis 5:22, 24.

[5] “Walk, the metaphor for personal relationship with God, will be explored in upcoming installments.

[6] Genesis 4:12, 14, 16 all record the idea that Cain “wandered away” from God.  “The land of Nod” was a name that meant to wander: literally, Cain was going to wander in the land of wandering.  On the other hand, Enoch “traveled with” God as in Genesis 5:22, 24.

[7] Leonard J. Coppes. 1980. “Nod.” Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. (Moody): 560-61.

[8] Exodus 25:8.

[9] Deuteronomy 23:12-14.  Laws governing toilet habits prompted God to say “Your God moves about in your camp.” 2 Samuel 7:6-7 records the other Old Testament statement that God “moves” amongst His people, also in a building context.  The end result was that God’s people could “walk with heads held high.”

[10] The English word “lived” or “dwelt” does not capture the Hebrew concept which is clearly passed into the Greek language here in John 1:14.

[11] Hebrews 2:9, 14-18; 4:14-16.

[12] Hebrews 5:23-28.

[13] Hebrews 9.

December 22, 2008 7:00 am

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January 4, 2009 7:00 am