The word “walk” is the biblical expression for “fellowship and obedience with God that results in divine favor.” It refers to the manner of life a person living in nearness to God. Ephesians 4:1 says, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” This means let our ways of life match what we claim to be; our behavior witnesses our profession. The Bible has much to say about walking with God. Here are some Bible characters that walked with God and held on to their faith.

Rachel

Rachel waited earnestly but patiently to marry the love of her life: Jacob, who would later be named Israel. She was deceived by her father Laban and sister Leah who, after Jacob had worked seven years to acquire Rachel, was tricked into marrying Leah. So Jacob worked another seven years, and Rachel waited another seven years to marry Jacob. Though childless initially, she became the mother to Joseph, who by God’s strength single-handedly saved all of Israel, and Benjamin, the last tribe in Israel to remain faithful to the Lord before the time of exile. Rachel’s role in the history of redemption is difficult to underestimate, and she should be celebrated for her strength in the face of adversity by the power of the Lord.

Hannah

Hannah was initially childless and prayed desperately for a son. She promised God that if he permitted her to bear a son, she would devote him to God. When God fulfilled this request, she faithfully kept her word. She left her son, Samuel, to be raised in the temple of the Lord while continuing to provide him guidance and mentorship along the way. Hannah’s faithfulness was never in question. Samuel, her son, would go on to rescue Israel from centuries of slavery to the Canaanites and idolatry to Baal by anointing King David. His heart was entirely devoted to the Lord and who gifted God’s people with most of the Psalms, which the church uses daily as a source of strength, encouragement, and worship, both through seasons of blessing and tribulation.

Miriam

Miriam was a prophetess and Moses’s older sister. She helped to save Moses when he was only an infant. Moses’s mother left him in a basket to protect him from being murdered by Pharaoh due to his being a Jewish baby. When Pharaoh’s daughter found Moses and had mercy on him, Miriam devoted herself to Pharaoh’s daughter to raise him so that they could remain together. We can credit Miriam with instilling Moses with a devotion to the Lord that manifested itself in later days, which enabled his openness to divine encounter with the one true God and his moral conscience, which guided Israel to the promised land.

Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene is often misunderstood. She was a faithful follower of Jesus. After Jesus healed her, she ventured alongside him in his ministry, meeting his needs and encouraging the disciples, eventually bearing witness to his crucifixion and burial. Three days later, she would be the first witness of the empty tomb of Christ and one of the core critical eye-witnesses to his resurrection that would later resource the gospel writers to give the church historical credibility.

Enoch

Genesis 5 tells us that “Enoch walked with God.” Hebrews 11 says, “By faith Enoch … pleased God” (vs. 5). Enoch’s testimony of his life and journey of a godly man whose walk and life pleased Almighty God. Enoch walked with God in a walk of dedication and devotion. His walk lived up to His name. Enoch means “Dedicated.” Enoch’s walk with God was visible. Enoch lived a life that demonstrated the faith that was in his heart. His life of faith was a consistent, constant, and complete walk with God. The Bible says that he walked with God for 300 years. Secondly, Enoch’s walk with God was vocal. The Book of Jude tells us that Enoch was a prophet (vs. 14-15). He preached about the coming judgment of God and the need for repentance. He spoke a complex message … “to execute judgment on all.” All the ungodly will be judged; none will escape. Who are the ungodly? They are all who have not believed in the only Son of God (John 3:18).

Noah

Noah appears in Genesis 5:29 as the son of Lamech and ninth in descent from Adam. In the Deluge story (Genesis 6:11–9:19), he is represented as the patriarch who, because of his blameless piety, was chosen by God to preserve the human race after his wicked contemporaries had perished in the Flood. Noah was the only perfect man in a world filled with sin. By faith Noah, being warned by God of things not seen yet, moved with fear, preparing an ark to save his family and the animals. Noah walked with God because he chose to follow God’s instructions, though he may not have understood them. He trusted that God knew what He was doing.

Levi

Levi was the third-born, and his mother was Jacob’s wife Leah. Levi and each of his eleven brothers became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. In Genesis 34, Levi and his brother Simeon defend the honor of their sister, Dinah, although the way they went about it was appalling. Levi was also involved in selling his brother Joseph to merchants who sold Joseph as a slave in Egypt. Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him, for their father showed him much favoritism. Before his death, Jacob spoke words of prophecy over Simeon and Levi. Jacob’s harsh words showed that Levi and Simeon’s bloody vengeance for their sister’s rape had lasting consequences. Levi's walk with God is detailed in Malachi 2.

As you draw close to God, he will not likely take you up to heaven as he did Enoch. However, he desires to reveal the beauty of his face to you. As we walk with him, he will open the Scriptures to us through the Spirit of wisdom and revelation and reveal to us the light of the glory of God that is to be found in Him. When we walk with God, we enter the dimension where God unfolds the secrets of His kingdom