Walking Before God

“Now 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 had lived for 99 years walking his own path in life.  What an interruption….disruption….this Divine Encounter must have been for him.  And coming from an Entity he knew nothing about, this is one of the most history-making experiences recorded in the Bible.  He was a successful desert man.  A shepherd, with a lot of animals, property and history.

But he had never encountered GOD.  His world was one of idols and all the godless activities that were part of that picture.  Then came his Divine Interruption.  Simple. Clear.  But utterly Life-changing.  History-changing.  History-making.

God makes an extremely brief introduction identifying Himself as El-Shaddai (All-powerful; All-mighty….far surpassing any of the gods in Abram’s world.)  He then establishes the new Path, the new Life, to which He was calling Abram.

No explanation.  No details.  No organizational blueprints.

“Walk before Me…”

Walk:  Put one foot in front of the other.  Don’t run.  Don’t plant yourself in the sand.  Move forward.

Before Me:  God had His Eye on him.  He kept Abram in His Sight.  God didn’t put Abram behind Him, where he might fall unnoticed or get off-track. God was trusting him enough to walk ahead of Him, but His Eye was always on him.  God had Abram’s back.  “Walk”….don’t run.  Don’t stand still.  Move forward, with the confidence that God was there, covering his most vulnerable position – behind him.

Be blameless:   The most challenging, yet most crucial responsibility to which God was calling Abram.  There were no 10 Commandments yet.  Abram was stepping into an utterly unknown experience of walking with God.  Sin and disobedience was a way of life since the time of Adam.  But God was calling him to a life that would have to be far above that of his world. Blame is a very human reality. Abram’s life would have to be one that was blameless in the eyes of the world around him.

May we, the sons and daughters of Abraham, follow God’s clear, simple instruction to him knowing that our Father walks with us.