2. Enoch, The Man Who Pleased God

Like Abel, very little is written about Enoch in the Bible, and yet, God placed him in the chapter of great men and women of faith in Hebrews 11. Enoch’s life caught God’s attention. As you study his life, look at your own. Consider how God would sum up your life today.

“Lord, open my eyes and heart that I might learn what it means to walk with you. Help me to identify areas in my life that hinder my walk. I desire to be pleasing to you in all that I say and do.”

DAY 1: Pleasing to God

Looking to God’s Word

Hebrews 11:5-6

1. What do we know about Enoch from verse 5?

2. Enoch was pleasing to God. What is required of us in order to please God according to Hebrews 11:6?

3. Why is it impossible to please Him without it?

4. According to verse 6, what is the progression of getting to the place of pleasing God?

Looking Upward

5. Verse 6 tells us that God is a rewarder of those who seek Him. What does it mean to seek the Lord?

6. How does God reward those who seek Him? (Can you support your answer with Scripture?)

Looking Deeper

• What do these verses have to say about seeking God?

1 Chronicles 28:9

Proverbs 8:17

Jeremiah 29:12-13

• Who else, besides Enoch, did not see death but was “taken up” according to 2 Kings 2:1, 11? How did God take him?

Looking Reflectively

Pleasing God should be a natural result of our faith.

• Is your life pleasing to the Lord?
• If you are aware of an area that is not pleasing to the Lord, confess it and give it to Him. Thank Him that He loves you unconditionally. Allow the Holy Spirit to change this area as you surrender it to His control.

DAY 2: Pleasing God (Part 2)

Yesterday we looked at Hebrews 11:5-6 and saw how Enoch was commended for pleasing God. Today we will look at some other passages that focus on pleasing God and what that involves.

Looking To God’s Word

2 Corinthians 5:6-10

1. What should be our ambition?

2. Why?

3. Paul says in verse 7 that “we walk by faith, not by sight.” Give an example of walking by faith, not by sight.

Colossians 1:9-12

4. According to these verses, what pleases the Lord?

5. Why would these things please the Lord?

Looking Upward

6. Why would someone continue in an action that he/she knows is displeasing to God?

Looking Deeper

• What other insights do these verses give concerning pleasing God?

John 8:29

Romans 8:8

Colossians 3:20

• Which verse particularly spoke to you and why?

Looking Reflectively

“I have to learn to relate everything to the master ambition, and to maintain it without any cessation. My worth to God in public is what I am in private. Is my master ambition to please Him and be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how noble?”¹
– Oswald Chambers

• Ponder that question – what is your master ambition in life?
• Does your “public” life reflect your “private” life?

DAY 3: Enoch’s Walk with God

Looking to God’s Word

Genesis 5:21-24

NOTE: There are two Enoch’s mentioned in Genesis. One is the son of Cain (Genesis 4:17). The other is the son of Jared (Genesis 5:18), who is the one mentioned in Hebrews 11.

1. What do you learn about Enoch from this passage?

2. All the other men mentioned in this chapter were said to have “lived” and died (a result of the curse). Enoch is the only one of whom it is said that he “walked.” What is the difference between living and walking?

3. How does Paul describe walking in a manner worthy of your calling in Ephesians 4:1-3?

Looking Upward

4. In addition to the qualities mentioned above in Q. 3, what other characteristics would you expect to find in the life of someone who walks with God?

5. Can you partially walk with God, or is it “all or nothing”? Explain your answer.

Looking Deeper

• What do these passages say about “walking”?

Colossians 2:6-7

1 John 2:

• What are some Scriptures that describe Jesus’ walk while He was on this earth?

Looking Reflectively

“Only when sin has been dealt with can we move into God’s presence and begin walking with Him.”²

• If there is something in your life hindering your walk with God, confess it, and give it to the Lord.
• How would others describe your walk with God?
• How would Jesus describe your walk?

DAY 4: Walking with God

Looking to God’s Word

1. How do these New Testament passages instruct us to walk with God?

Galatians 5:16

Ephesians 5:2

Ephesians 5:7-10

Ephesians 5:15

3 John 4

2. How do the areas above in Question 1 work together to bring us into a deeper walk with God?

3. Paul instructs the Thessalonians in 1 Thess. 4:1 to “excel still more” in their pleasing walk with God. How can you excel still more in your walk with Him?

Looking Upward

4. What causes someone’s walk with God to stagnate, stumble, or come to a halt?

5. If you have struggled in your walk with God, what was the cause and how did you handle it?

Looking Deeper

• Ephesians 5 talks much about “walking.” List all the things mentioned in verses 1-5 that we are to refrain from in order to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
• Are any of these things affecting your walk with God today? If so, confess it, give the area to God and ask Him to work in your life in that area.

Looking Reflectively

“If there is anything in my life in which I have to justify myself,
I am not walking in the light.” –
Oswald Chambers³

• Is there any area of your walk where you feel the need to justify yourself? Why?

DAY 5: Enoch’s Words

Looking to God’s Word

Jude 14-15

1. Jude quoted from the apocryphal Book of Enoch here.⁴ This is the only other place in Scripture where Enoch is specifically mentioned, other than genealogies (1 Chronicles 1:1). What did Enoch prophesy would happen in the future to the ungodly?

2. List the different ways Enoch used the word “ungodly” in verse 15.

3. How did Jude describe the ungodly in verse 16?

4. How does Enoch’s quote relate to his life of walking with God and the culture within which he lived?

Looking Upward

5. How do you respond to the sin you see around you in the world?

6. How does Jude 24-25 encourage you in your walk with God?

Looking Deeper

Jude 14 tells us that Enoch is the seventh generation from Adam. Looking back at Genesis 5, trace the seven generations from Adam to Enoch and the length of their lives.

Looking Reflectively

My walk with God began when I was 9 years old. I wish I could say that I have always walked in close fellowship with the Father since that day, but I confess I have not. I have stumbled many times along the way. Yet God was always there to pick me up and set me on my way again. He never let go of my hand.

For Enoch, walking with God lasted at least 300 years. We don’t hear of any “detours” that he took in his walk. We don’t read of any areas in which he displeased God. What marks his life in Scripture is that he walked with God and was pleasing to Him. What a great example for us to look to as we seek to walk with God however long God gives us on this earth.

Meditate on Jude 24-25. Spend some time praising Him.

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¹ Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Uhrichsville, OH: Barbour Publishing, 1963), March 17.

² MacArthur, MacArthur New Testament Commentary on Hebrews, 312.

³ Oswald Chambers, Still Higher for His Highest (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1970), October 8.

⁴ Kenneth Barker and John R. Kohlenberger III, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: New Testament (Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 1994), 1123.