How Do You Please God?

Well. You can’t. Not really. But wait, hang with me while I unwind these thoughts out about how we please God. And feel free to tell me in the comments if you agree or disagree.

Since reading Genesis 5 in the Bible, Enoch has captured my imagination and my curiosity.

Here is a man who pleased God—pleased God so much that when his time on earth ended, Enoch was no more. He didn’t die. He just disappeared.

He lived 365 years—a short time during those years where his son Methuselah lived 969 years (Genesis 5:21-27). The Bible states plainly, “Enoch walked with God” (Genesis 5:24). What does walking with God look like?

Enoch gets a whopping but crucial 3-5 verses in the Bible. And he pleased God.

I’m sitting over here like, “Excuse me. Where is my 800-page biography on Enoch?”

He lived 365 years!!! What was Enoch doing that was getting God’s notice? Why doesn’t Genesis share more step-by-step guidelines entitled “How to Live a Life Pleasing to God”? Where is that section?

Elijah is the one other person in the Bible that is cited to have been just taken up to heaven. In 2 Kings 2, Elijah tells his right hand man, Elisha, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel.” Yet, Elisha refuses to leave Elijah.

Three times, Elijah says to Elisha over their kosher meal. “Dude, stay home.”

“No way, José.” Elisha hands him the salt. (Play along with my imaginings here)

Elisha stuck to Elijah. Both men knew Elijah’s time on earth was up, but Elisha did not mourn. Yet, he endeavored to stay near Elijah for as long as possible.

“Okay, okay, Elisha.” I picture Elijah throwing up his hands at his student’s tenacity. “What do you want from me before I leave?”

“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit” (2 Kings 2:9). Elisha’s got guts. What an audacious request!

I bet you Elijah’s eyebrows flew up, but he threw down his own challenge. “Kid, you ask a crazy thing. Here’s the deal. If you see me when God takes me away, you will receive your request. Otherwise, forget it.”

Elisha witnessed the chariots of fire and the whirlwind that carried Elijah away.

Elisha asked. Elisha saw. Elisha received the mantle of Elijah.

Elisha pursued a deep relationship with God. But he didn’t do it alone. Elisha recognized Elijah as a man who pleased God, and he wanted to walk with God like Elijah. So he studied under him.

I can see the newspaper headline now: Humble sidekick inherits double portion of Elijah’s spirit.

However, there is one part that still causes me some confusion. In 2 Kings 2: 16-18, a company of prophets from Jericho “who were watching” wanted to send out a search party for Elijah. Elisha says no; yet, the prophets “persisted until he was too ashamed to refuse” (2 Kings 2:17). That gets me. Elisha, man of God with a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, is shamed into letting a search party go out. What does that even mean?

And yet, let’s look again.

Is it possible that Elisha realized that this company desired to walk out their grief in searching for Elijah? These men loved and respected him. Perhaps Elisha’s shame had more to do with the fact that he forgot how humans need to grieve.

We need to allow space to grieve.

Now looking at it once again, I think there is a comparison and contrast occurring.

Although these prophets (who are clearly godly people) were watching this entire occurrence, they did not see God take Elijah away. But Elisha had seen God carry Elijah away. The men search for three days and find not even a hair of Elijah. When they returned to Elisha, there’s the grand moment of I-told-you-so.

There was the unseeing and the seeing.

Enoch and Elijah walked with God so closely that they never had to face death. Death is not scary. Living is. As Paul said, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Living like Christ is the most difficult thing I minute-by-minute try to do!

And yet, I cannot ever imagine myself walking so closely with God that He would allow me to skip death—I mean, even Jesus had to die.

Since I cannot be Elijah, Enoch, or Elisha, I can still learn from them.

What I glean from the above is that perhaps God knew that if he gave us a biography of Enoch’s life, we would have created a legal system out of it. We’d all try to live Enoch-cookie-cutter-sized lives.

And what I see from Elisha are two do-able actions. Elisha trained under a man who pleased God, and Elisha boldly asked for Elijah’s spirit.

So we can’t necessarily request Elijah’s spirit because we don’t have Elijah to ask. Or can we…?

But we can search out people who are striving to walk with God. We can walk alongside them. We can study the Bible with them. We can ask them our most doubtful and most awkward faith questions.

Wouldn’t it be cool to join the appendices of the Hebrews 11 Hall of Fame? What would you want to have by your name?

I’d love if these words would be scrawled across my one line, “By faith, Barbara walked with God and pleased Him.”

But let’s be honest. I have a ways to go.

To the God I want to Please,

I really do wish that you’d left a few more cues from Enoch’s life, and I know that you gave me Jesus’ life. But let’s be honest, Jesus is God, too. Enoch was all human, and he still pleased you!

And I’ll be honest again, I don’t want to ask for Elijah’s mantle. That’s some thick responsibility.

But I do want to please you. Will you show me how?