Walking, Walking Uprightly, Walking with God

The terms walk, walked, and walking are used many times in the Bible. Sometimes when the Bible uses these terms it is speaking of the physical act of walking — putting one foot in front of the other and transporting ourselves from one place to another. For instance, God spoke to Abraham and told him, Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you" (Genesis 13:17). Likewise, in the New Testament we read, After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him (John 7:1). In this sense of the word, not many of us have to be told what it means to walk or how to walk. We naturally learned to walk as we grew from infants to toddlers, and it is something we continue to do throughout our lives.

The terms walk, walked, and walking are also used in the Bible to describe our manner of life, or our habitual conduct in life. For instance, the psalmist spoke of some who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11). The psalmist was not speaking of these people s posture, but rather of their character. In this sense of the word we do need to be taught how to walk. We are told, O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps (Jeremiah 10:23). We need instructions from God to know how to conduct our lives.

The Bible describes several of the patriarchs as having walked with God . For instance, Enoch walked with God (Genesis 5:24), and so did Noah (Genesis 6:9). Walking with God suggests fellowship and closeness to God. We, too, can walk with God in this sense of the word (1John 1: 5-7), but to do so, we must walk in the manner that God instructs—- uprightly, not in the way of evil (Proverbs 4:14; 1John 3:8-9).