Known

"Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years... Enoch walked faithfully with God and then he was no more, because God took him away." Genesis 21-24

As Moses tracks the genealogy of the Torah's patriarchs, Enoch, father of Methuselah, is easily relegated to yet another indefinable Hebrew name.  However, Enoch has been the protagonist of my aspirations and the object of my envy in this season of waiting.

I first met Enoch in college. I studied psychology and religious studies at a secular urban university. My heirloom faith had been shaken dramatically in high school by circumstances that defied the monochromatic image of God that others had painted for me. I sought to understand the human need for divinity.

As a part of my college coursework, I was tasked with reading the Pentateuch and tracking the lineage of Christ. Enoch captured my attention. He "walked faithfully with God" and then God "took him away." In a beautifully elusive act of mercy, God spares Enoch his finite existence and takes Him to a celestial residence.

I sometimes wonder about Enoch's friendship with his Creator and whether I am capable of such closeness.

In our culture, we are so desperate to be known-- but our attempts are often misguided and monochromatic, just like the ultimately hurtful images of God painted for me by so many well-intentioned Sunday school teachers.  We lose ourselves in the fake images painted in newsfeeds and filtered photographs.  Sometimes we need to let others walk with us, even when the scenery is not covetous and lovely.  Otherwise disappointment is imminent, and often it is devastating.

Masterpieces are composed in the contrast-in the blending of vices and dignities.  I covet Enoch and his humble amble with God.  I long to be known and to know the One who is with me always, even to the ends of the earth.