Pleasing to God [Gen 5:24]

[Gen 5:24] Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

God took him. Where? Why? Enoch was the great-great-great-great grandson of Adam. He was

also the father of Methuselah, the oldest man who ever lived (according to Scripture). The New

Testament book of Hebrews gives us a little more insight into the character of this man.

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took

him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up, he was pleasing to God. [Heb 11:5]

Wow! Imagine having that etched your tombstone – Pleasing to God. Enoch was divinely

protected from experiencing the pain of death here on this earth. Why? The author of Hebrews

tells us – because he was pleasing to God. It is in the next verse that he gives the Biblical

definition of faith by connecting real faith to pleasing God…just as Enoch did.

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and

that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. [Heb 11:6]

The author of Hebrews tells us that without ‘faith’ no one can please God. It does not matter

what we have accomplished or will accomplish on this earth. Unless faith in The God of the

Bible is our filter, all that we may accomplish (from God’s perspective) can never reach a level

to where HE is pleased. Only a person who has real faith in the real God of Scripture can ever

please God. That brings up another amazing thought – we can actually please God.

We know that Jesus pleased The Father. The Gospels tell us this--

This is My beloved Son, in whom I Am well pleased. [Mt 3:17; 17:5; 2Pet 1:17]

It is not surprising that The Son pleased The Father because we know that God is pleased in

and of Himself. But to think that we can actually please Him is amazing. How do we do this? It

begins with a God-given faith in The One who has given us this faith. Some people have faith in

faith, as if faith was some kind of force or power source. “I am a person of faith.” What does that

mean? Faith in who or what? A faith that pleases God is a faith that is in Christ and Him alone.

Verse 6 tells us that in order to possess this kind of faith, we must first believe that God is who

HE says HE is according to His Word. That’s the first part of a God-given faith.

The second part is a revelation of how this God who is pleased with us responds to us. HE

rewards those who seek Him. But let’s keep all of this in its proper context – those who seek

Him on His terms. What does it mean to seek God this way? There are so many passages in

Scripture that help to answer this question. But to sum up what they all have in common is to

simply say what the author of Hebrews says – God rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

In His parable of the wise and foolish builders, Jesus details how the wise builder didn’t just start

building his house. He took the time and effort to dig until he got to the hard part of the ground

and upon that ground, he built his foundation [Lk 6:48]. Are you desperate enough to know and

experience God that you will diligently seek Him in order to find Him – as HE really is? If so,

then studying God’s Word is a true joy to where you can never get enough of it. You want to

know Him more and more and in knowing Him more, you long to please Him more.

This has been God’s purpose for us since the beginning of time, when He created Adam and

Eve. God longs to dwell with us just as HE did with them. However, like Adam and Eve, there is

that “sin” issue. Sin which separates us from God – from experiencing Him the way He desires.

But God has made a way for us to be cleansed from our sin to where we can now approach Him

and experience all the blessings that came from being in His presence. Jesus reveals this to us

in His sermon on the Mount when HE proclaimed – the pure in heart will see God. “See” in this

context refers to ‘beholding’ or ‘experiencing’ God.

When we allow God through His Spirit to work in and through His Word in order to purify our

hearts, we are taken back to what Adam and Eve first experienced. It was in that Garden that

God walked with Enoch’s great-great-great-great grandparents and talked with them and told

them that they were His own. I remember reading something (from a resource that I had made

part of my regular sermon planning and Bible teaching for a number of years). This individual

explained why their church did not sing the song In the Garden. He explained that The Spirit of

God no longer operated in this way and as a result that song could mislead people as to how

God has chosen to respond to us today.

But perhaps…when we who are His own, choose to consistently love Him with all our heart,

soul, mind and strength by devoting our time and our lives to earnestly seeking Him…that The

Spirit of God would still invite us to ‘come up’ and experience Him in a more personal way.

Perhaps this is His greatest reward for those who earnestly seek Him.

It seems that Enoch was rewarded in this way. And didn’t God also personally speak with

Abraham and Moses and Paul and John the Apostle like this? And what about those like Elijah,

Jeremiah and Daniel? Each walked and talked with God and He with them. God is who HE is

and who HE chooses to be. And His Word reveals to us that He longs for those who long for

Him. And He rewards those of us who allow Him to do all that’s necessary in order that we may

dwell Him and He with us. Yes, He still rewards those who are pleasing to Him.