HEBREW WORD STUDY – WALK BEFORE ME – HATALAKE התלך  Hei Taw Hei Lamed Kap

Genesis 17:1 “The Lord appeared unto Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect.”

Genesis 5:24: “And Enoch walked with God:”

Deuteronomy 31:8: “And the LORD, he [it is] that doth go before thee;”

My study partner and I had a long discussion on the mission of Chaim Bentorah Ministries.  So what are we trying to accomplish by adding our new All Access site?  What is our mission?  I had a very disturbing night last night and only slept a couple hours as God was dealing with me very profoundly on this matter.  

I thought about Genesis 5:24 where it says Enoch walked with God and Genesis 17:1 where Abraham was ordered to walk before God and then in Deuteronomy the people of Israel are ordered to walk behind God.  I am sure it means there are times we walk before God, with God and behind God depending on the circumstances.  

However, I read something about this is the Mishnah Rabbah which might shed more light on this. When a father teaches his child to walk he puts the child before him, stands a few feet away and then with arms spread wide open encourages the child to come to him for a hug.  The child will be so anxious to get that hug from his father that he will begin to walk toward him without thinking about the fact he is walking.  The walking is a natural instinct but one still must learn to follow it to walk. The father is there to catch the child if he starts to fall.

This is how the rabbis explain this passage of God telling Abram to walk before Him.  He is teaching Abram to walk the righteous walk which leads to the arms of God and a big hug. This is like us as new Christians, first God will teach us to walk that righteous life. It will be a bit risky but He is there to catch us as the loving, caring Father that He is.

Yet, we find there are times Israel is commanded to walk behind God as in Deuteronomy 31:8.  Here the child walks behind his father to follow in his footsteps, to learn from His example, to be mentored by his father.  So too, after a Christian has learned to walk and entered childhood in his Christian life he will walk behind God, follow Him, follow His example, to learn to do what Jesus would do in every situation.  

But then we enter Christian adulthood.  Here is where we walk with God, minister to others with God, serve God and to just enjoy a pleasant relationship with our Heavenly Father.  I really have no memory of learning to walk but I do remember my earthly father teaching my younger brother to walk.   I do recall as a being very proud of my father and very anxious to be like him, strong, dependable, keeping his word, always helping others and caring for others.  I would follow him and anxiously seek to learn by his example, I would walk behind him.

But then a day came, I am not too sure when I first realized it but I was aware of the fact that my father stopped teaching me and just started enjoying having me around. I remember as a young pastor I would often take my day off to travel to visit my parents. I would always stop by the school that he worked as a custodian and share his lunch break with him.  Teachers and school administrators would come by and my father would proudly announce that I was his son, a pastor. We would talk to each other like two adults.  Although I never wearied of his advice, I never received it as much as I did as a child.  Our relationship was different, we now enjoyed just being together.

As my study partner and I considered our mission we both agreed that we are not called to teach the new believer to walk before God. Our Churches do a very good job with this, taking new believers and teaching them how to walk a life pleasing to God. Neither are we called to give instruction as Christians walk behind God, there is plenty of that being given.  Rather we are called to encourage people to be grown children of God where they can just enjoy, like Enoch, walking with God. 

We are not here to instruct you in the ways of God but to instruct you in how to discover the ways of God on your own, to search out the Scriptures on your own. To give you tools to dive deep into the heart of God in the original Biblical languages and allow you to enter that glory cloud yourself rather than let some teacher enter the cloud to tell you what God has to say.  We want to teach you how you can find out for yourself what God has to say to you personally. 

We are here to guide you into Christian adulthood, that is learning to walk with God.  That is why our Full Access site exists (http://www.chaimbentorah.com/all-access/.)  Not to wow you with deep insights into the Word of God but to teach you how you can let the Holy Spirit wow you with the deep insights He will reveal to you.

Click on link above to learn more about our “ALL ACCESS” subscription site to learn more.