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How Do We Walk?

Is it in carrying a flag or a banner?  Words on a hat or t-shirt or bumper sticker?  Displaying a tattoo?  Jewelry hanging around your neck?  Huh?

In a previous post, I referenced a verse that indicates that we usually walk in the name of our god or in the name of the Lord our God (Micah 4:5).  So is incorporating any of the above an indicator that you are walking in the name of your god or the Lord God?

Those external things could be indicators but they really don’t get to the root of what is going on. While I could try to analyze what it might mean to be committed to a god to the extent that a person walks in that god’s name, I want to focus on what it means to walk in the name of the Lord our God.  And it really has little to do with any of the external indicators mentioned above. 

So what does it mean to walk in the name of the Lord our God?  The answer is simple and is contained in just two words.  But to even scratch the surface on those two words takes a lifetime.  We walk in the name of the Lord our God by walking before Him.  But we’re not just talking taking steps physically; we’re talking how we live our lives before Him.  Some examples:

And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.  (1 Ki 3:6)

“O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart;  (1 Ki 8:23)

See what I mean!  Those two simple words of walk before require faithfulness, righteousness, uprightness of heart and doing things wholeheartedly.  And none are done in a moment or by just coasting along!

But take heart, even if you didn’t start young, there’s still time.  Take a look at what God asked of Abraham:  When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless” (Gen 17:1).

Abram, who was renamed Abraham, lived to be 175.  You don’t have to do the math to get the picture.  But you do have to get going to walk before Him.  So get to it.  Start now.  It’s never too late.  Walk before Him and keep on walking!

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