Five ways to walk · With God
Sheep that know his voice
The other four postures use God to get something else. This one wants God.
Life with God isn’t a fifth technique. It’s what the other four were reaching for. Under, over, from and for each try to use God to get safety, control, good things or significance. Life with God simply wants him.
As Skye Jethani puts it, its goal is not to use God; “its goal is God.” Sheep that know his voice still work, ask, obey and learn. They just do it with him, because he is with them (John 10:27).
The story of “with”
From Eden to the New Jerusalem, one desire.
- IEdenGod walks in the garden in the cool of the day (Gen 3:8).
- IITabernacle“Have them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them” (Ex 25:8).
- IIIThe WordThe Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us (John 1:14).
- IVImmanuelA baby in a feeding trough is God with us (Matt 1:23).
- VThe Promise“I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28:20).
- VINew Jerusalem“God’s dwelling place is now among the people” (Rev 21:3).
Where we see it
People in Scripture who walked with him.
- Enoch walked with God, and that line is his whole biography (Gen 5:24).
- Moses refused to go anywhere without God’s presence (Ex 33:15).
- David stopped talking about God and started talking to him in the darkest valley: “you are with me” (Ps 23:4).
- Mary of Bethany sat at Jesus’ feet and listened (Luke 10:39).
From Eden to the New Jerusalem, the whole story is God wanting to be with his people. That is the gospel: “Immanuel, God with us” (Matt 1:23).
Faith, hope, and love
Skye’s book describes life with God through three old words.
Faith is trusting him enough to let go of control (Prov 3:5).
Hope is knowing he is already in tomorrow, and that the story ends with him dwelling with us (Rev 21:3–4).
Love is what grows when we stay near him: love for him, and through him for our neighbors (1 John 4:19). And these three remain (1 Cor 13:13).
Once today, wherever you are, say quietly, “You’re here,” and keep going together.