January 17

18 ¶ And Jared lived a hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch.

19 And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:

20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years; and he died.

21 ¶ And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:

22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:

23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:

24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him.

5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

6 But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

"Walked with God." Of course the meaning is, that he was a good man, that he lived religiously. True religion is, walking "with God." And when it is said that Enoch walked with God, it is meant that he attained to special religious excellence. His religion did not merely come into contact with his secular life; his spiritual humanity did not merely touch his social humanity; but, like the prophet upon the dead child, "stretched itself upon it," mouth on mouth, eyes on eyes, hands on hands, and made it live. His religion was life, an active life. He "walked" with God.

And that too in the very midst of domestic anxiety and care. One of the two men who have had the honors of translation in this world for "pleasing God" was a man who lived in the midst of society, and was surrounded with children; he was not a recluse or a celibate. He lived in that condition in which there are natural and necessary distractions and temptations. Many people have lost their religion through the increase of domestic cares. But a godly soul can walk with God in family life, and take all its offspring in the same holy path.

"He was not, for God took him." Paul says of Enoch, he did not "see death." Christ says of every disciple that "he does not taste death." There is no translation now for the righteous, but there is better: transformation, the being "changed from glory to glory now," and "the bearing of the image of the heavenly" hereafter.

Closet Promise.—He preserveth the souls of His saints—Psalm xcvii 10.

"If to know that God approves of you, that all day long God is with you, and you with God, that His loving and mighty arms are under you, that He has promised to keep you in all your ways, to prosper all you do, and reward you forever, if this be not happiness, my friends, what is?"—Charles Kingsley