WALKING
IN THE WAYS OF THE LORD
Walking in the ways of
the LORD is not a concept that is new to Paul and the Greek text. Paul utilized a concept reflected in
scripture nearly two thousand years earlier.
“Now
when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to
him, ‘Walk before Me, and be blameless,” (Gen 17:1)
Five hundred years later, the LORD said to Moses in the
wilderness, “Behold, I will rain bread
from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion
every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My
instruction,” (Ex 16:4). If a person searches the Hebrew text using
the combination words “LORD” and “walk”, he will find over fifty references
like the following:
“How blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of the LORD,” (Psa 119:1), and “I am the LORD your God; walk in My statues and keep My ordinances and observe them.” (Ezek 20:19)
By the time of the apostles, walking in the ways of the LORD was
an established concept. The rabbis
speaking through the Babylonian Talmud (~500 A.D.) recorded the following
discussion in reference to “walking after
the LORD your God.”
“What does the text mean, ‘You shall walk after the LORD your God’
(Deut 13:4)? Is it then possible for
a man to walk after the Shechinah of which it is written, ‘The LORD your God is a devouring fire’ (Deut 4:24)? But the
meaning is to follow the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He: as He
clothed the naked (Gen 3:21), so do
you clothe the naked; as He visited the sick (Gen 18:1), so do you visit the sick; as He comforted mourners (Gen 25:11), so do you comfort those
who mourn; as He buried the dead (Deut
34:6), so do you bury the dead” (b. Sot. 14a)
In the Hebrew understanding,
the LORD does not call a man to perform a task unless He has first demonstrated
how to perform the task. Believers seek
to cloth the naked, as God clothed Adam and Eve. Believers see burying the dead as scriptural
because God buried Moses. Within the framework
of this understanding, the life and ministry of Jesus can be seen as the
ultimate pattern and example for the life that a believer is called to live, as
John has written,
“The
one who says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same manner as He walked” (1
John 2:6).
A person’s “walk”
refers to the specific actions a believer undertakes to mirror the life of
Jesus, as we might say to our children, “Walk in my footsteps”, meaning follow
the pattern of my example. Paul gave
this instruction to believers,
“Therefore
as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been
firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just
as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” (Col 2:6-7).
It
is my understanding that the disciples of a rabbi often placed their
feet in the exact location as their rabbi had walked so they could experience what
their rabbi had experienced. This was
all part of the process to become like the rabbi, to “walk in Him.” Every time a
believer takes communion, participates in a festival, or performs any activity
that Jesus performed, that believer participates in a common experience of Jesus
and becomes more like the Master. So
what will each of us do today to become more like Jesus?
Scott
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