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THE RESULTS OF WALKING WITH GOD
by R. A. Torey
1. The first result of walking with God
is great joy, abounding joy.
"In Your presence," sings the Psalmist, "You will fill me with joy" (Psalm 16:11).
There is no greater joy than that which comes from right companionship. Who would not rather live in a hut with congenial companions than in a palace with disagreeable associates? Who would not rather live on a bleak and barren isle among real Christians than in the fairest land the sun ever shone upon among infidels, blasphemers, drunkards, hoodlums, and the sexually immoral? The most attractive feature of heaven is its society, especially the society of God and the Lord Jesus.
Samuel Rutherford said: "I would rather be in hell with Christ than in heaven without Christ: for if I were in hell with Christ that would be heaven to me, and if I were in heaven without Christ that would be hell to me." But when we have the conscious presence and companionship of God on earth, "we have two heavens, the heaven to which we are going and a heaven to go to heaven in." In one of the loneliest hours of His lonely life Jesus looked up with radiant joy and said, "Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me" (John 6:32).
Can you remember some ecstatic hour of your life when you walked, and sometimes talked and sometimes were silent, with an earthly companion whom you loved as you loved no other? Oh, happy hour! but only faintly suggestive of the rapture that comes from walking with God, for He is an infinitely dearer and better and more glorious companion than any earthly one could be. How the homely details of everyday life are transfigured if we have the constant fellowship of God in them.
There lived in the Middle Ages a lad named Nicholas Hermann. He was a raw, awkward youth, breaking all things that he touched, but one day the thought was brought to his mind with great force that God was everywhere and that he might have the constant thought of God's presence with him and do all things to God's glory. This thought transformed his life. He soon took a job where his duty was of the most menial character--in the kitchen, washing pots and kettles, but, to use his own way of putting it, he "practiced the presence of God" in the midst of his humble toil. That kitchen became so holy a place that men took long journeys to meet Nicholas Hermann and to converse with him.
2. The second result of walking with God
is a great sense of security, of abiding peace.
In the Psalm already quoted the Psalmist sings again: "I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken" (16:8). Certainly not. How can we be moved if God is with us? What harm can befall us? How often God says to His servants as they begin to tremble before approaching danger: "Do not fear, for I am with you" (Isaiah 41:10).
How safe the trusting child feels with father or mother by its side. A little girl was once playing in a room below while her mother was above, busy about household duties. Every little while the child would come to the foot of the stairs and call up: "Mamma, are you there?" "Yes, darling, what is it?" "Nothing, I only wanted to know if you were there." Then again a little while: "Mamma, are you there?" "Yes, darling, what is it?" "Nothing, I only wanted to know if you were there." Ah! is not that all we want to know, that God is here, right here by our side?
There may be plagues, there may be war, there may be famine, there may be thugs on the street, there may be burglars in the house, there may be houses of sin, and unprincipled men and women on every hand; yes, our wrestling may not be with flesh and blood but "but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms," but what does it matter? God is with us.
Oh, if only we bore in mind at every moment the thought of His presence with us, if only we could hear Him saying, "Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand," there would never be one single bit of fear in our hearts under any circumstances.
No matter how the war increases, no matter how near it may come to our own doors, there would be unruffled calm, abounding peace. We could constantly say, under all circumstances, "The LORD is my light and my salvation--whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident." No wonder the Psalmist wrote in this connection, "One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple."
The conscious companionship of God is the great secret of abiding peace.
(read all 8 results of walking with God in R. A. Torey’s “The Secret of Abiding Peace)”)
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