Unspectacular godliness - 3 November 2009 |
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Hebrews 11:5 singles out Enoch as one who ‘was commended as having pleased God.’ Perhaps this isn’t surprising, since his earthly life came to such an unusual conclusion.
On the other hand, his previous 365 years were somewhat less spectacular. The short account of his life in Genesis 5 is surrounded by high achievers. Cain built a city (Gen 4:17); Adah came up with the smart idea of living in a tent (v. 20); Jubal seems to have been an accomplished musicial (v. 21); Tubal-cain became a famous metalworker (v. 22); and of course Noah built an ark and rescued all the animal life on the earth (Gen 6-8).
But Enoch did none of these things. As far as we know he never built a city, was never a great artist, never made great technological advances, never did anything spectacular at all.
He did, however, do the most important thing: ‘Enoch walked with God’ (Gen 5:22, 24).
For 365 years.
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Godliness, Minister's Blog