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Walking Before God
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Nov 3, 2009 1:54 pm
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Genesis 17:1
"And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect." KJB
God desires to walk with His children because that is where He was in the Garden of Eden and desires to do so again. Abram (soon to be Abraham) had been doing so for over 25 years when God gave this command to him. As God appeared to Adam and Eve in the Garden He also "appeared" to Abram. Abram, which means "high father", became Abraham, which means, "father of a multitude" but we all know that he did not have a son until he was 100 years old. (Genesis 17:5) KJB. The reason he is called the, Abraham, (father of the multitude) is because he became the father of the Israelites. Abram had already experienced what the Pharaoh of Egypt had been doing, and he had also experienced a great victory against Chedorlaomer, King of the Elamites, and he had also been obedient to and had great humility towards Melchizedek, the high priest.
As God was very explicit about His promises to Abram He is the same with us for our God is the same yesterday, today and for ever. (Hebrews 13: KJB. God had promised Abram and heir, which at this time had not been given to him. Unfortunately Abram listened to his wife, went and had sex with her handmaiden, Hagar, and she conceived, giving Abram Ishmael, but this was not the son of promise. Abram had strayed from his walking with God and it was later on that when he was 100 years old and Sarah was 99, that she conceived and Issac was born, which was the son of God's promise to Abraham. God the eternal father, had promised Abram that he would be made a father of the multitude, but Abram had to "...walk before me, and be thou perfect."
We all know that man cannot ever be perfect, no matter what we try to do, and our need of a Savior is very apparent in all who finally come to this realization of being in sin. The Hebrew language that is in our text verse for today is highly unusual. The word "panyim" (before me), which basically means "the face". This is the same word which is used in the very first commandment when it says "...have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3) KJB. In other words, this word "panyim" could be read in our text for today like this "...walk, looking at my face...". In the New Testament we find Simeon, the old man who asked God to see the Messiah before he died said this: "For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." (Luke 2:30-32) KJB. God went before the people during the Exodus, and became their Light at night, and all they had to do was to walk towards the light in order to see their salvation. This is what Simeon saw, his salvation, for the very name, Jesus, means "he shall save His people." Simeon saw that salvation when he laid his eyes on Jesus, at 8 days old. In other words, in the first commandment we can read it like this, "Do not let any thing come between you and your God, because it will cause you to take your eyes from Him." Anytime we place our eyes on anything, that will cause us to remove our eyes from our God.
Now, the implication of our text is very clear and very obvious, once we learn what the words in the text mean. Our God, desires us to live our lives in such a manner that His "face" (which could be His Person, His character, or His presence) should always be "before" us, so that our "walk" (our lifestyle, our behavior) can be "perfect", which is not perfection per'se, but rather that our "walk" is complete, whole, or healthy. Nothing should come between us and our God or rather nothing should inhibit our relationship with our Heavenly Father and "...of him with whom we have to do..." we should never falter but walk uninhibited before Him in all things. (Hebrews 4:13) KJB.
We read in our Bible that "Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations..." (Genesis 6:9) KJB, but that simply means that he walked before His God and obeyed Him in all things. It does not mean that Noah was perfect but rather that He never took his eyes from His salvation, God his Father. And it was said about Abraham (Abram) that his faith in God made him justified in God's sight. Even though the nation of Israel was surrounded by Pagan nations, Moses told them that they needed to "...be perfect with the Lord thy God..." (Deuteronomy 18:13) KJB. Which they failed at many times but yet they are still the "people of God", even to this day.
This is all said to say this, no matter what we are going through, if we keep our eyes focused on His "face" we shall walk according to His word and be perfect, but the instant we take our eyes off of Him we shall fall. So let us keep our eyes on His face, so that we might be perfect in our walk with Him.
By Dr. Terry Cleaveland, Pastor (retired), Preacher, Teacher of God's Holy Word, Grand Junction, Co.
Used with permission
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