Walking with God

Charlie Yang

Description

Walking With God examines the prophet Elijah’s journey through triumph, crisis, and a renewed calling. Strengthen your walk with God through this fresh perspective.
“The desert, like an uninvited guest, often arrives without notice. It visits us apropos of nothing. It comes in all shapes and sizes, and shakes our souls to the deep. In the desert, we fear, panic, cry, grumble, and groan. In the desert we quest and quest, ponder and pray. We become thinkers, wrestling with God’s silence and inaction….”
“A new orientation, a new direction for life begins with the right questions. It is triggered by questioning who we are, what we are called for; different forms of the question, “Where are you now?”
“In the journey after Mount Horeb we are changed, walking with a new heart and a new vision, like Jacob. He was crippled but blessed through his wrestle with God in the Jabbok River. When Elijah left Mount Horeb for the place of life where he had been walking, nothing surrounding him had changed, but everything was changed, because the call was renewed and he himself was changed. He, with a new orientation of life, started walking on the same old road.”
From the book, “Walking with God.”

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Spiritual Growth
• Christian Living
• Philosophie et théologie
• God

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 27 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664278035
• Langue: English

Extrait

WALKING WITH GOD
 
The Journey for Experiencing and Understanding God
 
 
 
CHARLIE YANG
 
 
 

 
 
Copyright © 2022 Charlie Yang.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
 
Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
 
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www. zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7804-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7805-9 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7803-5 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022916869
 
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 10/28/2022
Contents
Preface
1     At Mount Carmel
“Do Not Sit on the Fence”
Align Your Life with God
God the Creator and Sustainer of Universe
Signs and Wonders
Defining the Mount Carmel (Orientation)
2     In the Desert
When Life Goes Against You
Sleep, Rest, and Sabbath
The Desert as a Pilgrimage
God Is Love
Defining the Desert in Life (Disorientation)
3     At Mount Horeb
Walk Out Of the Cave
Listening to the Voice of God
You Are Not Walking Alone
Walking as a New Being (New Orientation)
God Walks with Us
Epilogue
About the Author
Preface
We walk. Walking, at the basic definition, is a method to move from one place to another place. Now, driving or even flying might be a more efficient way to move for many people, but still, walking remains the most basic method of movement.
I walk. When I walk alone or when I walk along with others, walking is a blessing for me. When I walk, I walk with my wife. Since my wife’s battle with cancer began, walking has become a part of our lives, an almost everyday routine. When we walk, we talk, we laugh, we worry, and walking is my life.
Walking on the mountain is not my favorite pastime, but often I walk on small mountain trails near my home. Sometimes I climb up to the top of the mountain and stand and look out at the surrounding area. I see an unhindered view, that unfolds before my eyes, feel from fresh whiffs of air, and hear sounds from heaven. And in that moment, I am merely a part of nature, in harmony with creation. I feel life is a blessing, as God intended it to be. Then, as I stand on the top of the mountain, enjoying every moment, I know I have to come down to the valley.
The Bible begins with the story in Eden. It tells that God walked in the Garden of Eden. Abraham walked to Mt. Moriah to sacrifice his only son as a burnt offering. Jacob, broken and lost, walked in the desolate desert towards an uncertain future. There, he met God. Moses walked and walked in the desert tending his sheep, until he stopped before a burning bush and was met by God. The people of Israel walked in the wilderness for forty years. Jesus walked on the roads in Palestine for many days. Jesus walked alone, in solitude, and with people. Jesus walked, carrying a cross to Golgotha (Via Dolorosa). He walked with his two disciples to Emmaus. Paul walked in the untraveled roads for many days with faith and hope, saying, “We walk by faith, not by sight.”
When we walk on the road, we need to know where we’re walking now, if we want to go in the right direction. If we don’t know where we are, we cannot get to the destination. It doesn’t matter how urgently or desperately we want to go there, it doesn’t matter whether we know where we go. Nowadays, GPS leads us everywhere on the planet with no trouble. We don’t have to know the names of all the roads or maps to reach the destination. We don’t even need to know where we are. However, the first thing the GPS does always is to identify where we are- the current location.
Life is walking, a journey, a most common metaphor for life. This familiar metaphor names our lives at any walk or stage. Life is a journey, walking on the road, the beaten path or “less traveled road.”
In the journey of life, there is an end- that is, the destination of the journey. When we walk on the road of life, we don’t know when it will end. There are many journeys, ending in the middle of the road like a sudden stop of the car. But, there is no unfinished journey; there are only unwanted or unexpected endings. And so, we just wish, guess, and try finishing at the point that we want to stop.
The journey of life is dotted with good and bad, wanted and unwanted, triumphs and tragedies, haunted by uncertainty and unpredictability. It is driven by challenges and defined by choices, for better or for worse. Each moment is on our shoulders and relies on where we walk.
Life is a journey, full of questions and riddles. Among many questions is that of our location, in what walk of life we are in, what road we take. This may explain why the first words of God in the Bible are in the form of a question: “ Adam, where are you now ?” 1 Life wanders and meanders with this question, repeated often in life.
Life’s journey, I have observed, may be put into three different stages. These can be defined by three different events of Elijah’s life journey, each taking place at Mount Carmel, in the Desert, and at Mount Horeb as told in the stories of Elijah. Although it can be difficult to figure out which stage we are in, this tool can help us see life from a different perspective. And asking and knowing where we are and where we need to go, we will perceive and define life’s purpose and direction better. And if you have a good companion, your walk will be more joyous and easier. Walking along with friends is easier than walking alone.
The biblical narration on Elijah is fascinating. I see great depth and breadth of faith and life. These two chapters of the first Kings show the highest and worst moments of Elijah’s life, a great prophet. Watching him walk along life’s journey– his remarkable successes, times of miserable humiliation, and finding life’s new direction– gives us a better perspective on life and faith. In the person of Elijah, we see an example of living faith in challenging times. We also see our own images of struggling with challenges and vulnerabilities.
This book has been inspired by Walter Brueggueman’s method, used in classifying the entire Psalms of the Bible. He categorized entire Psalms into three groups: orientation, disorientation, and new orientation. These overarching themes can be applied to life. A French philosopher used the method “orientation, disorientation, and reorientation.” I believe there is no “reorientation” in life, but rather “new orientation.” So, “new” is more proper than “re” for the definition. His method gives us a proper tool by which to better understand life and faith. I apply his method to Elijah’s life journey, told in 1 Kings 18:20-19:19 . These life stages and situations do not occur chronologically, but I believe one’s life at any moment can be found in one of these three stages or in between, as shown in Elijah’s story.

I dedicate this book to my wife Euni, and my son Da-Sol, and my daughter Grace.
1
At Mount Carmel
(Orientation)
He (Elijah) answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but you have, and your father’s house, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. Now therefore have all Israel assemble for me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Ashera, who eat at Jezebel’s tabl e. ” 1
ELIJAH, A MAN OF FAITH, HAILED AS A HEROIC PROPHET, WAS standing at the top of the mount. The morning air was crisp, and the brisk whiff of morning dew still wafted in the air. He walked on the trail up to the top of Mount Carmel with many thoughts in his mind. It already had been more than three years since the last time he had walked up to this place to worship God. He used to climb this mountain often, but this trail had been deserted and became a desolate place. All the memories came rushing back to him with the pang of pain.
Elijah the prophet appears in the story of Jesus’ transfiguration with Moses (Luke 9:30). But his life is not well known, and so, we have a short profile of him. The First Kings briefly talks about his origin: “Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead,