‘Then the disciples returned to Jerusalem… a Sabbath Day’s walk from the city.’ Acts 1:12
In the Bible we so often read of Jesus walking with His disciples. At the very beginning of the Bible we read Adam walking with God in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the evening. The children of Israel walked for 40 years on and off to reach the Promised Land. It was the usual way to get from one place to another in those days. The two disciples walked along the Emmaus road. Elijah walked in the desert and Philip was also walking when he encountered the Ethiopian.
When the history of our period is written, I doubt that walking will be mentioned very much. We don’t have time for it and now we have bikes, cars, trains and planes. This is a pity, there is no time to think, converse or ponder. Our concentration is on steering the bike, driving the car or sleeping on the train and plane.
What opportunities we miss, to walk along side someone to be in conversation with them, to get to know a person or even pray with them or for them. Now we don’t have time to stop and ‘smell the roses.’ We often complain we have no time to stop and think.
God took six days to create the world; He could have done it in one day, or in the blink of a moment. But after each day He stopped and pronounced it good and very good. May we slow down and hear God’s words, ‘Be still and know that I am God.’