Walking with God: Walk before Me and be blameless .....

I will establish  my convergent with you and your descendants .... I will be their God. (Genesis 17:1, 7, 8). But what does it mean to walk with God? Negatively the Lord asks “Can two walk together unless they be agreed” (Amos 3:3)? Literally if we  go  separate ways,   you don't  journey together. Similarly if your life's journeys are completely different, there will be no togetherness,  no intimate friendship. The Lord complains about backsliding Israel that they are “a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways’ (Psalm 95:10).  But Abraham is known as a friend of God (2 Chronicles 20:7).

In Isaiah  43:1  the Lord says “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.”  Putting this together with verse 8, He is saying “I'm yours,  and you're mine.” It' s like the intimacy of a loving marriage relationship. In fact the Lord created and instituted marriage to be a living parable of His relationship with us (Genesis 2:24; Ephesians 5:31, 32).  In the marriage covenant we promise to have and to hold,  for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish, till death us do part.”  Similarly in becoming a believer we covenant with God to walk before Him blameless,  and promise to love Him with all of our heart,  mind,  soul and strength (Mark 12:30). On His  part He promises never to leave us nor forsake us,  and to love us with an everlasting love (Hebrews 13:5; Jeremiah 31:3).  In our relationship with Him,  the for better for worse part, is about working through the difficulties of life, and not giving up.  On His part He promises to forgive us when we confess and forsake our sin (1 John 1:9), and He promises to work everything for our good behind the scenes (Romans 8:28).

That believer's marriage is a parable of Christ and His church (Ephesians 5 again),   is one of several reasons God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16). I do not speak in self-righteousness here, I have utterly failed in this area not just once, but twice! Let's face it marriage is hard, but the covenant is there to help us determine to work through the difficulties. It's what the Bible means that this is  like iron sharpening iron (Proverbs 27:17). I have come to believe that marriage is one of God's primary tools to make us like Christ (see Romans 8:29). And I believe this is true even when it fails. I like what Jordon Peterson says about why covenant is necessary, he says “You're trouble and I'm trouble!”

Walking with God, and His being our God,  is not just theory, it's not some kind of theological pablum. I can say quite literally,  that I would not have made it without my relationship with Him. Life is simply too hard. He is the God of all comfort, He is my inspiration, my best friend, He is my God, He is mine and I am His.  

Lord, not only would I not have made it without You, I cannot live the Christian life without Your help. Thank You for the promise that  when I fully and completely surrender,  not only do You work in my very desires to do what pleases You,  You also give me the Grace, the wherewithal,  to do what without You I cannot do. For these and many other things I give You thanks and praise in Jesus Name Amen